The Saint
Students Voter Apathy?
Rose Gaynor looks at political interest in St Andrews
The British elections have to take place before the 3rd of June, but whereas this time before the American elections news and people alike were buzzing with expectation and debate, the British elections seem on the outset to produce a considerably more low key response.
Voter turnout in recent general elections has been on a downward trend, disproportionately so among the young. Although overall turnout increased in 2005 (from 59.4% in 2001 to 61.4 %) turnout among the under 24s continued to decrease. The turnout for under 24s in the 2005 general election was less than half that of over 65s, (37% compared to 75%) raising questions about who is controlling the decisions which affect our lives. Political apathy and disinterest among the young is often cited as a cause for these statistics. But is it always disinterest that leads to low turnout? And if there is widespread political apathy, how far is this a result of laziness or plain disinterest and how much a result of frustration with the political system? And how do the students of St Andrews fit into this debate?
To go some way to discovering how engaged St Andrews is with politics, we surveyed 29 St Andrews students of various nationalities, subjects and ages, to discover the student bodys reaction to British parties, the next election and to politics in general. They were questioned on their interest in politics, their attitude towards voting, and whether they felt committed to a particular British party.
Interesting times!
More than half of those surveyed expressed an interest in politics. Many recognised the impact politics has on our day to day lives, including the standard of education we receive and how much it costs us. There was also a concern with knowledge of politics being important in enabling some control over its processes and therefore over the effect it has on our lives. Without understanding the political system, government policy and what is going on around you, you are unable to control what affects you, explained one student. To engage with it, however impotently, is in some way to be wise to it; it is to locate or consciously position yourself within the grand matrix of power relationships that exist within any society, argued another. Civic responsibilities also played a large part in the answers, explaining an interest in politics as necessary to keep politicians accountable for the actions they take. Reasons for disinterest included a lack of knowledge about what has been happening and a feeling of distance from political issues. For some it seems a plain case of boredom, for others a simple case of different priorities: I dont see how my thoughts on politics would affect me personally so I spend time doing things I enjoy instead.
Whos on my party line?
Party membership in Britain as a whole has been on the wane. The three main parties in 2008 accounted for just 1.3% of the electorate compared to 3.8% in 1983. Many of the old ties which connected people to parties - class, region, religion or job - have been increasingly dismantled as people become more mobile in their work, their living space and their identity, and as all of the parties gravitate closer towards the centre. However, it seems that lower adherence to parties does not preclude an interest in politics. People vote and act on the policies and actions different parties take as opposed to an attachment to a political party itself. Perhaps in the long run this will have an effect on the mechanics of politics, but for the moment its most obvious effect is that as traditional ties break down, and politicians seek to forge new ones, there is even more to play for in the lead up to elections.
To some extent, our survey results reflected these trends. 21 of those interviewed did not feel committed to a British political party. The most common reason given were a similarity among parties and disillusionment with a party they used to respect. Theyre all the same, one person answered. For many a lack of knowledge also precluded an attachment to a party. For most it seemed there was no party that they felt aligned sufficiently with their ideals to cause commitment, but they still expressed an intention to vote in a particular way. My vote in the next election will be based upon the parties leaders (and who would become Prime Minister) rather than whether they were from Labour, Conservatives or Liberal Democrats.
Those who did feel an affinity with a British party, often based this on shared political ideals and interests as well as specific policies they respected. In all, the commitment to a party seemed often to be a result of shortcomings of other options as an attachment to the party itself.
To vote or not to vote?
An overwhelming majority of students said they would vote in the next election. Many of those emphasised the importance of voting as a democratic right and the sacrifices which had been made to secure those rights Women and men have died in order for me to have access to democracy, one said. The continued importance of active participation in politics in protecting those rights and the responsibility of citizens to uphold them through voting was also focused upon, one student stating that every vote counts and it is important for each and every citizen to actively participate in the political process of his or her country. Another stressed that it is not enough to merely have the institutions of democracy in place in order to guarantee accountable governance. A concern with not wasting ones vote was prevalent, as was the thought that one should take advantage of the opportunity that voting offered to influence government and enact change, however limited that power may be. Perhaps the most repeated comment referred to the right to criticise government as voided when one refrained from voting: If you do not vote in the elections, then you have no right to complain when a party you oppose comes into power. The attitude seems to be that if you do not have any input when the chance is offered, then you have no right to debate over what comes out. This concern highlights a negative side to voting; rather than voting for the party one supports most, often peoples primary aim is to exclude another party they think is worse.
Of those who said they would not vote even if they could, one expressed a lack of knowledge as the reason, whilst another said they rejected the idea of voting for a party which they did not support: On the contrary my vote if you will is for not voting. This response seems to offer a challenge to the view that voting in and of itself is crucial to political involvement regardless of what the vote is for, and indicates a quiet debate that seems to be taking place increasingly around the left borders of the political scale: whether voting under such circumstances is in the end counterproductive to real change,
All in all, it seems that interest in politics is still present and active in the lives of St Andrews students, which, considering the number of quasi-political activities and groups that make it up, is not so surprising. What was perhaps more unexpected, is the genuine respect of the value of political rights and appreciation of our ability to exercise them underpinning this interest, and extending beyond it to those uninterested in politics who still see involvement in it as important.
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