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Have a look at my website - feedback welcome :) https://658279.wixsite.com/website

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Great information guys

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Good article Matt

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Interesting statistics Robyn on compulsory voting

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Great work guys. Interesting articles

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Hi Harriet loving the political quiz!!!

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Robyn, The compulsory voting graph is really interesting

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All this information will be great to use!

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Useful links. Do we need more?

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Bryan May struts his support to uge the young generation to vote!!!!

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Hi Ceri, Useful links, thank you for sharing.

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A lot charts to see the voting trend

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YouGov conducts one of Britain's biggest ever post-election surveys to chart how the nation's political character is shifting

Since last week's election result YouGov has interview over 50,000 British adults to gather more information on how Britain voted. This is part of one of the biggest surveys ever undertaken into British voting behaviour, and is the largest yet that asks people how they actually cast their ballots in the 2017 election.

The bigger sample size allows us to break the results down to a much more granular level and see how different groups and demographics voted on Thursday.

Age

In electoral terms, age seems to be the new dividing line in British politics. The starkest way to show this is to note that, amongst first time voters (those aged 18 and 19), Labour was forty seven percentage points ahead. Amongst those aged over 70, the Conservatives had a lead of fifty percentage points.

In fact, for every 10 years older a voter is, their chance of voting Tory increases by around nine points and the chance of them voting Labour decreases by nine points. The tipping point, that is the age at which a voter is more likely to have voted Conservative than Labour, is now 47 - up from 34 at the start of the campaign.

Despite an increase in in youth turnout, young people are still noticeably less likely to vote than older people. While 57% of 18 and 19 year-olds voted last week, for those aged 70+ the figure was 84%.

Class

As noted at the start of the campaign, the class divide in British politics seems to have closed and it is no longer a very good indicator of voting intention. Despite dramatic voter movements towards Labour over the past few weeks this theme has held reasonably consistent: Labour is now 4% behind amongst ABC1 voters and 2% behind amongst C2DE voters.

The picture is a bit more mixed if we split this out further, with Labour doing best amongst DE voters (semi-skilled and unskilled manual occupations, unemployed people and those in the lowest grade occupations) and the Tories doing best amongst C2 voters (skilled manual occupations).

Education

Alongside age, education has become one of the key electoral demographic dividing lines. We saw it was a huge factor in the EU referendum campaign and, after the last general election, we made sure we accounted for educational qualifications in our methodology. In last week's vote, while the Conservatives' support decreases the more educated a voter is, the opposite was true for Labour and the Lib Dems.

Amongst those with low educational qualifications (defined as GCSE or equivalent or below) the Conservatives beat Labour by 22%. However amongst those with high level educational qualifications (defined as degree-level or above) Labour led by 17 percentage points. Part of this relationship is down to age - the expansion of education means that, on average, the young have more qualifications than the old, although the Conservatives still have a "graduate problem" even after accounting for this.

Gender

There was only a small gender gap between men and women, with women being equally split between Labour and the Conservatives (43% to 43%), and men slightly more likely to have backed the Tories (45% to 39%).

Employment status

Given the importance of age and voting it is not surprising that there is also a link between people's employment status and who they cast their ballot for. The Conservatives are 39 points ahead amongst retirees and Labour are 45 points ahead amongst full-time students.

Labour is in fact ahead amongst those in work: 4 points ahead amongst those working part time and 6 points ahead amongst those working full time, illustrating how the Conservatives are increasingly relying on the grey retired vote.

Newspaper

Beyond standard demographics, our data also shows a wide variation in voting behaviours based on the newspapers people read. The most pro-Conservative newspapers are the broadsheet Telegraph (+67), but also the "blue-top" Express (+62) and Daily Mail (+57).

The most pro-Labour newspapers are the Guardian (+65), the now fully-online Independent (+51), and the Daily Mirror (+49). This is based on the newspaper that respondents say they read "most often".

Photo: PA
See the full results here

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How Britain voted at the 2017 general election | YouGov

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Since last week's election result YouGov has interview over 50,000 British adults to gather more information on how Britain voted. This is part of one of the biggest surveys ever undertaken into British voting behaviour, and is the largest yet that asks people how they actually cast their ballots in the 2017 election.

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Hi Carlos, The video is really useful and helpful for this project.

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https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/may/18/how-solve-youth-voting-crisis-voter-registration-election

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Good atricle Robyn. Australia have a 94% turnout for voting as it is compulsory

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Is compulsory voting in a democracy a contradiction in terms? That is the question some Australians have been asking since voting became required by law here nearly a century ago.

The right to vote is a freedom fiercely sought by people all over the world, but Australians do not have a choice.

The continent is part of a small minority of just 23 countries with mandatory voting laws. Only 10 of those enforce them.

Registering to vote and going to the polls are legal duties in Australia for citizens aged 18 and over, and failing to do so can result in a fine and potentially a day in court.

Opponents of the system like Libertarian columnist Jason Kent say this stifles political freedom and threatens the basic principles of democracy.

"People have been sentenced to jail terms for not voting. It's disgusting. It's far from being democratic. We are not a democracy if we can't vote democratically."

But Dr Peter Chen, who teaches politics at the University of Sydney, warns that this type of heated rhetoric blows things out of proportion. He says showing up to the polls every so often is not a huge burden.

"The system demonstrates a social expectation that at a minimum everyone needs to participate every few years and that's a good thing."

High turnout 'myth'

Although small, the A$20 (about $18, £12) fine is enough to drive voters to the polls in substantially greater numbers than countries with voluntary voting.

Supporters of the system say Australia boasts some of the highest civic participation in the world, with a reported 94% voter turnout in the last federal election, compared with about 65% in the UK's 2010 general election and an estimated 57% in the 2012 US presidential election.

The tides may be changing though, according to Mr Kent, who says high voter turnout here is overstated.

The idea that high voter turnout based on compulsory voting translates into a politically engaged electorate is nonsensical
Paula Matthewson, Political commentator

"High voter turnout is a myth when you consider that 10% of Australians are not even registered. When that myth is debunked, I think you'll see a dramatic shift in public perception of compulsory voting," he said.

That number only reflects registered voters who turned out, and although required by law, in recent years voter registration has seen a slight decline, especially among younger Australians.

According to the Australian Election Commission, a third of the overall number of eligible voters who are not enrolled are between 18 and 24 years old. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has made mobilising the youth vote central to his 2013 campaign.

Long-time political insider and commentator Paula Matthewson, who makes a conscious decision not to vote and pays the fine instead, says the problem goes beyond young voters.

"The idea that high voter turnout based on compulsory voting translates into a politically engaged electorate is nonsensical. If we moved to a voluntary system, with the level of disenchantment and disengaged voters we have now, no one would vote."

Engaging voters

And there has been an increase in recent years of what Australians call informal or spoilt ballots - instances where voters either mistakenly or intentionally submit a ballot that is blank or improperly filled in, which cannot be counted in the final tally.

If you look at the international experience, in non-compulsory voting systems, the people who don't vote are the poor and disenfranchised and those are exactly the people we think should be voting
Rohan Wenn, Spokesperson, Get Up!

Spoilt ballots count for around 6% of the total votes cast in the 2010 election. Taken together with the number of eligible voters who fail to register, the actual percentage for voter turnout in Australia's federal elections hovers in the low 80s.

Mr Kent says that these statistics show that forcing people to vote does not translate into an engaged electorate. He argues that a non-compulsory voting system would encourage Australians to be more involved.

"If voting was democratic, politicians would be beholden to the voters, they couldn't hold a gun to our heads and force us to vote, they'd have to give us a good reason to vote. They'd have to inspire us."

The idea of abolishing mandatory voting is a familiar topic in Australian politics, most famously espoused by former Liberal cabinet member and Senator Nick Minchin, who is an outspoken opponent of the system.

Earlier this year, the Queensland Liberal Party released a discussion paper on election reforms that included a section on the possibility of ending compulsory voting.

The move was met with outrage from senior Labor party figures, including then Prime Minister Julia Gillard who tweeted: "Fight @theqldpremier's plan to end compulsory voting. Don't let the Liberals make our democracy the plaything of cashed-up interest groups.''

Mr Rudd also broached the topic in a wide-reaching Green Paper released in 2009 asking: "Do you think compulsory voting should continue in Australia?"

Who benefits?

There have been no policy initiatives on the subject from the Labor government at that time or since.

It is widely believed that the Liberal party would have the most to gain if a voluntary voting system were adopted here but James Campbell, state politics editor of the Herald Sun newspaper, explains that the issue is not black and white.

"Both parties have toyed with the idea of abolishing mandatory voting, but the reason it never happened is no-one has been entirely certain about who would benefit from getting rid of it."

Rohan Wenn, spokesperson for the non-partisan political advocacy group Get Up!, says the system protects the rights of marginalised groups.

"If you look at the international experience, in non-compulsory voting systems, the people who don't vote are the poor and disenfranchised and those are exactly the people we think should be voting."

Regardless of partisanship, the current electoral system is largely supported across the country. Dr Chen explains that despite the ongoing debate, there is no sign of any serious measures to end compulsory voting in sight.

"Most Australians are quite comfortable with the electoral process and would be quite suspicious of efforts to change it. We trust the electoral system more than we trust our politicians.

"It's an irony, but we really like our democracy."

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Australia election: Why is voting compulsory?

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Is compulsory voting in a democracy a contradiction in terms? That is the question some Australians have been asking since voting became required by law here nearly a century ago. The right to vote is a freedom fiercely sought by people all over the world, but Australians do not have a choice.

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Compulsory voting in the world

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Whether voting should be made compulsory
https://www.idea.int/data-tools/data/voter-turnout/compulsory-voting
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/22-countries-voting-mandatory

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Young voters, class and turnout: how Britain voted in 2017

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The 2017 general election was swung by young voters and high turnout according to the Ipsos Mori How Britain Voted survey

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Makes it easier to see which views you agree with

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Answer the following questions to see how your political beliefs match your political parties and candidates.

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Hi Harriet, Thank you for the interactive political quiz - very useful

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Video regarding the last EU referendum

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Liam Harrington, CEO UNILAD, who filmed Bob Geldof, commented: 'The young people of today are interested in politics, we see that in the sheer volume of people talking about political issues in the online world.'

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Bob Geldof on why young people should vote in EU referendum | Daily Mail Online

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Liam Harrington, CEO UNILAD, who filmed Bob Geldof, commented: 'The young people of today are interested in politics, we see that in the sheer volume of people talking about political issues in the online world.'

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Interesting article Matt

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Useful information Matt

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Check it out guys. Great info

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Can't be bothered to vote? If you're young, you simply can't afford not to

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Voter apathy among the 18-24 age group has seen the advent of tuition fees and cuts to housing benefit and student grants. It's time to turn out to reverse this cycle, writes Armando Iannucci

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