New study of the Scottish IndyRef finds that the turnout level amongst 16 and 17 years olds was 75%
Surprisingly the least likely were 18-24 year olds
A report from the Electoral Commission on September’s Scottish IndyRef finds that three-quarters of the 16/17 year old did exercise their vote.
This comes in a study carried out for the Commission by ICM in which a particular effort was made to identify and interview non-voters.
An explanation by Professor John Curtice of why the very youngest segment was more likely to vote is that maybe they were encouraged to do so by mum and dad who probably have less influence over older groups.
The overall sample size, 1,252, is small given that we are looking at sub-sets. John Curtice says it was “just about enough to give us a broad indication of whether 16 and 17 year olds were more or less likely to vote than those in other age groups.”
No doubt this will be picked up by those campaigning for an extension of the franchise for all elections.