London Elections: empty register?

Hey. Do you live in London? Are you aged between 25-34? Are you registered to vote?

Chances are that - among that particular target bracket - 27% percent of you will have either shaken your head miserably or yelled 'voting? I don't need to do that! What have those uppity Westminster types ever done for us, eh? Now, where's my copy of the Daily Star?'. Yep ... according to a new NOP study, almost a third of Londoners aged between 25-34 won't be able to plink that ballot paper into their chosen box come Thursday. Are you one of them?

If so - and you had your hopes pinned on Ken Livingstone securing victory - then you could actually be helping Boris Johnson mumble and pratfall all the way to the top. It's normally younger-types who would be supporting Ken, you see, while those aged over 55 generally tend to slope towards mop-topped BoJo. Just look at the stats: only 5% of over 65s and 8% of 55-64s are unregistered. There's quite literally no contest.

There is one other thing worth highlighting, though: when we drop back to the 18-25 age group, the number of unregistered voters actually decreases to a measly 20%. Almost gives you hope that the majority of young people are intelligent, articulate and politically aware, doesn't it?

Until you watch an episode of Skins, that is.

Written by C J Davies on 29 Apr 2008 10:42 PM. Permalink