'Youth vote will shake up Irish politics' (SpunOut.ie online poll)

From: SpunOut.ie National Youth Organisation
http://www.spunout.ie | [email protected]

- Sinn Féin   33%
- Labour       17%
- Fine Gael   16%
- Fianna Fáil 06%

THE SpunOut.ie National Youth Organisation is today encouraged that despite widespread disillusionment with electoral politics only 6% of young people polled in their temperature-testing ‘Big Online Election Poll’ indicated that they would not use their vote in this election.

This broke down between 2% who proposed to vote but spoil their vote;  2% indicating that they won’t vote but prefer to concentrate on ‘bottom up social change’; and only 2% indicating that they won’t vote because they are ‘not bothered.’

(Comment from one Facebook voter:  “After 13 years of cronyism, corruption, stroke politics, self-indulgisim, lies, wastage, etc, etc, I know who I don’t want in power. After that, I’m still open…”  )

The poll also demonstrated that younger tech-savvy Irish people's voting preferences are very different to those demonstrated by recent opinion polls with Sinn Féin selected as their preferred party by 32% of voters.

The poll, which received 860 votes, was conducted over a 5-day period via SpunOut.ie’s hugely popular 16,000 strong Facebook community and promoted via direct advertisements targeting people under 30.

(See: http://www.facebook.com/SpunOut.ie?sk=app_188852664482338 )

The mainstream political parties scored poorly with Fine Gael and Labour on 16 and 17% respectively and Fianna Fáil trailing at an all time low of 6%.  An interesting contrast is that of the newly formed United Left Alliance who, despite not fielding candidates in many constituencies, polled higher than Fianna Fáil with 8% of votes.

The Green Party came in at 3%, which challenges claims that they have strong support amongst younger people in Ireland, perhaps due to their participation in a government that has left record youth unemployment, emigration and college fees as a legacy.

Commenting on the results of the snapshot poll SpunOut.ie founder Ruairí McKiernan said

“Our poll suggests that the youth vote may be key to understanding the future of Irish politics. Ireland has one of the highest populations of young people in Europe who are disproportionately affected by shamefully high unemployment and emigration rates. They are increasingly engaged, angry and active and are without a doubt set to break away from traditional voting patterns which will ensure the beginning of a new era in Irish politics.”

About SpunOut.ie

SpunOut.ie is an independent youth-powered national charity working to help people create personal and social change. SpunOut.ie combines an interactive online community providing health and lifestyle information, signposting to help services, an alternative youth media space, dynamic discussion forums, and a platform for youth engagement, participation and advocacy. SpunOut.ie reaches over 500,000 users online each year, millions more through the media and has won numerous awards including a Golden Spider Award and a Net Visionary Award. SpunOut.ie also runs the Academy of Activism, which provides free practical training for young people interested in creating change.

We are partially funded by a mix of philanthropic, foundation, state and community funding and rely on the support and involvement of people from across Ireland to make what we do possible. Please support us in whatever way you can.