Parties wooing millennials, but is youthquake coming?
In June I asked the question here, would the “youthquake” that shook the Westminster landscape in the British election happen in New Zealand?
The British election result, Bernie Sanders’ US presidential campaign last year and the “Jacinda-mania” witnessed in New Zealand since early August give plenty of reasons to suggest young people will respond when something or someone gets them engaged.
This year there has been a concentrated effort from several sectors in New Zealand to engage young people in the election. The Electoral Commission has used young champions through social media, videos and websites to help get the message across about the importance of voting and enrolling.
Putting advance voting booths in universities and shopping malls is also helping to remove the excuse that it was too hard to get to a polling booth.
A campaign called “We Have Power” has brought 15 tertiary campuses together with the lofty goal of getting every student to vote. At Massey University our Design+Democracy Project has been helping to address the declining number of young voters — with tangible results. Our game-like online questionnaire, On the Fence 2017, asks users a series of political questions, then compares their responses with the political parties’ to give their closest match.
Young people want to see politicians speaking about real issues, not sound bites. They want parties to offer up meaningful programmes of change that resonate with them. The candidate doesn’t need to be young — Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn are both older white men. Rather youth want authenticity and substance, which is why campaigns targeted at young votes can also fall flat, as witnessed by Dotcom’s and the Mana Party’s $4 million spend-up last time.
The Electoral Commission reported a surge in young people enrolling to vote last month, with 16,694 young people in the 18-29 age bracket signing up. During that time there was not a dull moment on the political landscape with Jacinda Ardern becoming Labour’s leader, James Shaw becoming the sole leader of the Green Party after Metiria Turei’s resignation, and Peter Dunne throwing his bow ties out of the cot.
Young voters started to get engaged and “Jacinda-mania” was coined. Could we expect a “youthquake”?
Ardern’s “relentless positivity” has resonated with young people, as have values-based, ideologically driven speeches, and the Greens looking shaky. The millennials have pricked up their ears.
Sensing this wind of change parties have started addressing key issues important to them such as student fees, taxing property investment, affordable housing, and social issues such as poverty.
In this year’s election there has been a palpable and concerted effort to get young people to vote and long may this continue. But is it enough?
There is no doubt an increased youth turnout could have a hefty impact on this year’s result, with under-30s having the potential to become the biggest voting bloc in the country. This has not been lost on the political parties. On all sides of the spectrum they are keen to tap into the potential the missing young voters might offer. The 2017 campaign has seen social media becoming a key platform.
Bill English has shared Facebook chats with his children, and told Ardern he knows about millennials “because he raised them”. Steven Joyce, National’s campaign manager, has said using social media is one of their key tools to attract young voters, “even if it meant the party was sometimes given a hard time for it.” Ardern has been a frequent visitor at schools and universities and has unveiled almost all her party’s major policies there. All parties are trying to talk their language.
With the political turmoil calming, and the polls saying it’s close, how is the hope of a “youthquake” looking?
As of last week nearly a quarter of a million younger voters were not yet enrolled. Nearly 20,000 fewer young people under 30 have registered compared with 2014.
Of course anyone who runs major organised events will tell you millennials like to keep their options open to the last minute and rock up on the day.
If they leave it till election day they will be thwarted, however. They can only enrol until the day before election day — tomorrow.
Whatever happens this time, the longterm strategy to engage, inform and get young people voting needs to continue.
Claire Robinson is professor of communication design at Massey University.