Non voting research

[didds]

DAK of any links to any published reports/research into why people that do not vote in General Elections don't vote?

Most turnouts for GEs are about 70% - I'm wondering if anyone has ever looked into the reasons why that 30% don't turn out* (even if to spoil their paper).

* as opposed to general conjecture in a pub/internet forum

Please note this is a specific request for research/reports, not an attempt to begin a generalised pontification, hence "DAK" which will just derail my query.

TA!

didds

[mc2fool]

https://www.google.com/search?q=why+people+don't+vote+uk kicks up lots.

[didds]

aha! my own searches only turned up hits like the reconteur.com one that basically just postulate with no research (ie down the pub!)...

but the university of york one hadn't been listed in my search (obvs the wrong search terms!)) and that at least has 6000 people sample behind it. Albeit it was 2005 so those reasons may well have changed now of course.



Thanks!

[dionaeamuscipula]

aha! my own searches only turned up hits like the reconteur.com one that basically just postulate with no research (ie down the pub!)...

but the university of york one hadn't been listed in my search (obvs the wrong search terms!)) and that at least has 6000 people sample behind it. Albeit it was 2005 so those reasons may well have changed now of course.

Thanks!

Its 600 not 6000. It may be better than nothing - and many of the reasons given ring true - but there is nothing in the article suggesting that they have made any effort to make their survey representative.

DM

[didds]

wrt 600 v 6000 - oops! sorry.

good points about representative results etc.

[chas49]

You have probabky seen this, but just in case:

Turnout at these elections was 32.0%, which is slightly lower than at the last comparable set of elections in 2019, when it was 32.5%.

The most common reasons given by people who told us they did not vote were:

a lack of time or being too busy at work (mentioned by 15% of non-voters)
a lack of interest in, or being fed up with, politics (13%)
medical reasons unrelated to Covid (8%)
being away on polling day (8%)
Although it was not one of the most common reasons given, 3% of non-voters said they did not vote because they did not have ID, and 1% said it was because they did not agree with the requirement to show ID to vote at a polling station.

Source: The Electoral Commission - Report on the May 2023 local elections in England

Admittedly in relation to local rather than general elections, but likely to be relevant

[pochisoldi]

In my experience when I've spoken to people about voting, the non-voter's response is usually one of
"They are all the same"
"They won't do what they promise"
or some variation.

In short, they don't think that their vote will make a difference.

Having said that, I was able to vote with my conscience in the 2019 general election, safe in the knowledge that the local Labour candidate would never be elected, and if (heaven forbid) Comrade Corbyn had worked a miracle and won, it would have been my fault

Why do I always vote? Because if you don't you get the government you asked for, and you lose the right to complain.

[Lootman]

In my experience when I've spoken to people about voting, the non-voter's response is usually one of
"They are all the same"
"They won't do what they promise"
or some variation.

In short, they don't think that their vote will make a difference.

Having said that, I was able to vote with my conscience in the 2019 general election, safe in the knowledge that the local Labour candidate would never be elected, and if (heaven forbid) Comrade Corbyn had worked a miracle and won, it would have been my fault

Why do I always vote? Because if you don't you get the government you asked for, and you lose the right to complain.

I have only voted once since 1987, and that was in 2010. I voted on those occasions for Thatcher and Cameron.

Mostly it is about not really perceiving that any politician will do someone like me any good. I also do not like to be on the electoral roll nor any other public document. (And I resent the fact that being on the register is technically obligatory, although luckily it is not meaningfully enforced).

[kempiejon]

In my experience when I've spoken to people about voting, the non-voter's response is usually one of
"They are all the same"
"They won't do what they promise"
or some variation.
...
Why do I always vote? Because if you don't you get the government you asked for, and you lose the right to complain.

I used to hold the view that you have to engage in the political system, or work to overthrow it. So you've got to vote to keep engaged with the solution.

George Carlin gave a different view.

MAYBE, it’s not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here like: “THE PUBLIC”. Yeah the public sucks. There’s a nice campaign slogan for somebody: “the public sucks, f. hope”. Because if it’s really just the fault of these politicians, then where are all the other bright people of conscience? Where are all the bright, honest, intelligent Americans ready to step in and save the nation and lead the way?

I don’t vote. Two reasons I don’t vote: first of all, it’s meaningless. This country was bought and sold and paid for a long time ago.
And secondly, I don’t vote ’cause I believe if you vote, you have no right to complain. People like to twist that around. I know, they say, they say: “well if you don’t vote you have no right to complain”. But where’s the logic in that? If you vote, and you elect dishonest, incompetent people, and they get into office and screw everything up, well you are responsible for what they have done, YOU caused the problem, you voted them in, you have no right to complain. I on the other hand, who did not vote, WHO DID NOT VOTE. Who in fact did not even leave the house on election-day, am in no way responsible for what these people have done, and have every RIGHT to complain as loud as I want, about the mess YOU created, that I had nothing to do with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Jnf9GILjFM

[Urbandreamer]

Why do I always vote? Because if you don't you get the government you asked for, and you lose the right to complain.

I'm not sure that I would agree with that. You already made the point that you may be unlikely to get what you asked for, so how does making a mark on the ballot change your right to complain about the fact?

What it does is allow you to believe that, even in the absence of choice, you can influence things.
I confess to such self delusion as I spoil my ballot in the hope and belief that questions may be asked as to why there are so many spoiled ballots.

Not voting doesn't give you the government that you asked for. Otherwise anarchists might get their wishes. It's not for nothing that they claim "It doesn't matter who you vote for, the government always gets in".
Turnout in Kingston on Hull was less than 50% in 2019, yet Diana Johnson was returned as MP.

However the question is about research into why people don't turn up.
The Electoral Commission is required to report on the administration of each UK general election. 2019

[Grumpsimus]

For research on this topic I suggest you get in touch with The Electoral Reform Society which does research and publishes reports which cover this area. They also have a comprehensive Library, but you may have to be a member to access this.

The most obvious reason people don't vote is that they are not registered to vote at their current address. In 2023 The Electoral Commission estimated that this covered 8 million people.

One problem with looking at research in this area is that there are often multiple reasons people don't vote, but surveys are reduced to single simple answers , in order to make them manageable.

[Lootman]

For research on this topic I suggest you get in touch with The Electoral Reform Society which does research and publishes reports which cover this area. They also have a comprehensive Library, but you may have to be a member to access this.

The most obvious reason people don't vote is that they are not registered to vote at their current address. In 2023 The Electoral Commission estimated that this covered 8 million people.

One problem with looking at research in this area is that there are often multiple reasons people don't vote, but surveys are reduced to single simple answers , in order to make them manageable.

Another problem with any such research is that it is hard to track down those who did not vote. And any non-voter who volunteers to come forward for a study is self-selected, which will skew the findings.

[pochisoldi]

Why do I always vote? Because if you don't you get the government you asked for, and you lose the right to complain.

I'm not sure that I would agree with that. You already made the point that you may be unlikely to get what you asked for, so how does making a mark on the ballot change your right to complain about the fact?

I'm talking about complaining about politicians not delivering or screwing things up.

I vote for A and A gets in. A doesn't do what they said they'd do - I can complain "The guy I voted for didn't do what they said they would do"
I vote for A and B gets in. B makes a horlicks of it - I can complain that they are useless and brag "Well I didn't vote for him"

I don't vote and A gets in. A doesn't do what they said they'd do - I got what I asked for. No grounds for complaint
I don't vote and B gets in. B makes a horlicks of it - I got what I asked for. No grounds for complaint

[Lootman]

I'm not sure that I would agree with that. You already made the point that you may be unlikely to get what you asked for, so how does making a mark on the ballot change your right to complain about the fact?

I'm talking about complaining about politicians not delivering or screwing things up.

I vote for A and A gets in. A doesn't do what they said they'd do - I can complain "The guy I voted for didn't do what they said they would do"
I vote for A and B gets in. B makes a horlicks of it - I can complain that they are useless and brag "Well I didn't vote for him"

I don't vote and A gets in. A doesn't do what they said they'd do - I got what I asked for. No grounds for complaint
I don't vote and B gets in. B makes a horlicks of it - I got what I asked for. No grounds for complaint

OK but what if every time you vote it ends up being those kinds of disappointments? Don't you at some point come to the conclusion that you see the futility of thinking that you have influence when you do not?

[pochisoldi]

I'm talking about complaining about politicians not delivering or screwing things up.

I vote for A and A gets in. A doesn't do what they said they'd do - I can complain "The guy I voted for didn't do what they said they would do"
I vote for A and B gets in. B makes a horlicks of it - I can complain that they are useless and brag "Well I didn't vote for him"

I don't vote and A gets in. A doesn't do what they said they'd do - I got what I asked for. No grounds for complaint
I don't vote and B gets in. B makes a horlicks of it - I got what I asked for. No grounds for complaint

OK but what if every time you vote it ends up being those kinds of disappointments? Don't you at some point come to the conclusion that you see the futility of thinking that you have influence when you do not?

A little bit of influence (1 voter in a constituency of 72,000) is better than no influence at all.

[Lootman]

OK but what if every time you vote it ends up being those kinds of disappointments? Don't you at some point come to the conclusion that you see the futility of thinking that you have influence when you do not?

A little bit of influence (1 voter in a constituency of 72,000) is better than no influence at all.

True and more influence than you would have under PR where it would be 1 vote in 46 million.

[csearle]

A little bit of influence (1 voter in a constituency of 72,000) is better than no influence at all.

True and more influence than you would have under PR where it would be 1 vote in 46 million.

Having lived in Germany I used to be an advocate of PR. Now I feel that they talk e-n-d-l-e-s-s-l-y about everything, which takes a-g-e-s and in the end come up with a subset of things they all agree upon, which is fine but usually ineffectual. I now believe FPTP is a boon. C.

PS A dictator like Putin probably gets off on his target's PR handicaps.

[torata]

There might be higher turnout if there was an extra box that said 'none of the above'.
If you write something like that on the voting slip, it gets counted as a spoilt vote, when in fact it's a vote against the candidates.
torata

[Lootman]

There might be higher turnout if there was an extra box that said 'none of the above'. If you write something like that on the voting slip, it gets counted as a spoilt vote, when in fact it's a vote against the candidates.
torata

There is also the American practice of there being a space on the ballot paper to "write in" the name of a person not on the ballot. Every now and then a write-in candidate wins.

[didds]

There is also the American practice of there being a space on the ballot paper to "write in" the name of a person not on the ballot. Every now and then a write-in candidate wins.

what happens if the write-in candidate doesn't want to be elected ?