The main concept of this literature review is to test whether age has an impact on vote. In order to gain an insight on how age affects turnout rates, scholars have to consider several factors. For example; voters’ needs, values, experience, party identification, the voting system, ideological dimensions and the theory of market segmentation. These factors correlate with age and inevitably have an impact on vote.
It is understood that individuals of all age categories in the United Kingdom have different needs, wants and aspirations. In other words, young adults are distracted by a host of concerns for example; getting education, finding a mate, raising young children and establishing a career (Melo and Stockemer, 2014). …show more content…
It is understood that the current generation of young adults have detached themselves from society (Solam, 2007), as a result of political parties as they do not identify themselves particularly with young adults. One could believe that young adults are essentially given a less importance in society. Thus, young adults are left feeling alienated (Solam, 2007). In other words, poor political identification means that turnout rates are lower specifically for young adults in comparison to other age …show more content…
2012) has likewise argued that the voting system is outdated and, as a results contributes towards the strenuous relationship between age and vote. Powell specifically argues that traditional polls are more difficult to get to, thereby potentially increasing the odds that certain populations will be under-represented (Powell et al. 2012). Thus, people would avoid registering all together due to the long process. In addition, when analysing British general elections one can highlight several weaknesses. For example, an individual may be less likely to vote because, they might feel that their vote will not have an effect on the forgone conclusion. In other words, if one was to vote for a party that would not get majority of the votes, this means that voting altogether may be ‘pointless exercise’. However, in other countries an introduction of e-voting has proven to increase turnout rates in general elections drastically particularly for young adults. Although a hollow victory, studies found a mixed results, an introduction of online voting resulted only in a small increase in voter turnout (Powell et al. 2012). As a result, research confirms that the voting system can be a factor determining between age and