News

They may head to school, work late at the office or spend the day recovering from Thanksgiving excesses, but there's one thing many young Canadians don't plan to do on Oct. 14: vote.

The number of young voters “definitely” planning to vote has dropped to 50 per cent, according to a poll conducted by the Innovation Research Group for the Dominion Institute.

In the last federal election in 2006, 57 per cent of young voters definitely planned to vote, but only 44 per cent did.

The new poll is extremely troubling, said Dominion Institute executive director Marc Chalifoux.

“We don't want to wake up in a few decades in a society where there are more non-voters than voters,” he said.

It's not apathy causing the likely drop in youth turnout, though. It's a perceived lack of knowledge.

While three-quarters of 18- to 25-year-olds polled were concerned about low turnout among young voters, 30 per cent said they don't know enough to cast their own vote. Eleven per cent said they were too busy and another 11 per cent just didn't care.

That is a potent pool of potential votes if it can be tapped before Oct. 14, Mr. Chalifoux said.

“There's a number of close ridings and close races where the youth vote, if properly mobilized, could make all the difference.”

Of the main political parties, the Bloc Québécois appears to have the most loyal young voters. While the percentage of Quebec youth planning to support the Bloc has dropped to 27 per cent, compared to 49 per cent last election, a whopping 73 per cent of the Bloc's young supporters said they definitely will cast their ballots.

The NDP ranked next, with 59 per cent of supporters definitely voting, while the Conservatives and Liberals were equal with 52 per cent and the Greens had 48 per cent.

Only 16 per cent of undecided youth voters definitely plan to vote.

The poll showed the long-term secret to encouraging voting in this age group appears to lie in families returning to old-fashioned dinner-table discussions. As well, political parties must embrace new media.

Youth who were raised discussing politics – even if only occasionally – are three times more likely to vote than those who never discussed politics.

School courses explaining the political system make a difference too. The poll showed those who took such a course are 10 per cent more likely to vote than those who didn't.

Meanwhile, young voters who are engaged online by a political party are 20 per cent more likely to vote.

The Dominion Institute's online survey was conducted Sept. 10-15 and has a margin of error plus or minus 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Week 4 of the campaign

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• MAP ARCHIVES: Days 1-3, Days 4-7, Week 2, Week 3.