A survey we conducted among young people during March and April revealed that, in this super-election year, young voters are the least interested in participating in the European Parliament elections, scheduled for June 9th.
Out of a total of 515 respondents aged 18 to 24, nearly 85% stated they would participate in the parliamentary elections (now already behind us), over 88% said they plan to vote in the presidential elections at the end of the year, while significantly fewer – 63.4% – intend to vote in the elections for Croatian representatives in the European Parliament.
63.7% of respondents said they do not abstain from participating in elections. Their motivation comes primarily from a sense of civic duty and/or interest in a specific social issue they believe their preferred candidate or political option is capable of addressing. Nevertheless, 64.7% also believe that awareness among young people about the need to participate in the political life of the country is low.
As expected, the majority of young people – 65.3% – get most of their information about candidates and their programs, regardless of the election type, via social media. Reliable sources that follow include TV news and programs (57.9%), and news portals (50.7%). Print media rank lowest with just 13.6%.
When it comes to discussions about political topics, only 17% of respondents engage in them on a daily basis, while two-thirds (a total of 68.1%) discuss politics on a weekly or monthly basis. 15% of respondents never engage in political conversations.
Among our respondents, 67.1% were women, and 32.9% were men. Half of the participants (50%) were aged 18 to 20. A significant 73.3% were university students, 17% were high school students, and 10.7% were employed.
In the previous EU elections, only 29.85% of registered voters in Croatia cast their votes. At the EU level, turnout is on the rise, reaching 51%. While the number of young voters increased, the largest portion of voters still consists of older citizens – 43% are aged 55 and over.
In addition to more young people voting, five years ago it was also noted that a slightly higher number of highly educated and employed individuals living in small or medium-sized towns participated in the elections, while turnout was lower in rural areas.
Although the sense of civic duty is growing among youth, the vast majority still believe that political awareness among their peers in Croatia remains low. This is likely due to a lack of dialogue – communication is the factor that can spark change. That’s why, as communicators, we also invited candidates in the upcoming EU elections, representing the leading political parties in Croatia, to send video messages to young people explaining why it is important to vote in the EU elections, and how the decisions made in the European Parliament impact their daily lives and shape their future.
Watch the video to see what they had to say.
