The youth turnout in the EU referendum was twice as high as we thought

But still not enough


According to new data analysed by professors at LSE, 64 per cent of 18-24 year olds who were registered to vote did so on June 23rd.

They claim that the 36 per cent figure that has been widely reported since the referendum is underestimating the youth turnout.

They’ve said the previous “misleading” information was based on information released by Sky Data which relied on the statistics compiled after last years election. This data was based on the proportion within each generation who claimed they always voted.

The new, far higher, figures are based on detailed polling conducted since the referendum by pollsters Opium. Four questions were asked to 2,002 people about how and whether they voted. The people were also asked whether they voted at a polling station or by post, and whether or not they had registered.

The percentage of people who voted in other age categories was also higher than previously thought. The new figures discovered that the turnout was 65 per cent for 25-39 year olds, 66 per cent amongst those aged between 40-54, 74 per cent among the 55-65 age group and 90 per cent for those aged over 65.

In a report, the professors behind the analysis said  “The question of whether young people voted or not is politically important for two critical reasons. First, because there continues to be a significant proportion of younger voters who say that they are unhappy with the result of the referendum and want to be heard, and one of the key arguments that has been made in answer to them is that they should have bothered to vote if they cared that much.|

“On balance, the results of our surveys on the turnout of 18-to-24-year-olds would suggest that it would not have been enough to overturn the result of the referendum … but it would have almost certainly reduced the advantage of Leave to such a point (likely less than 500,000 votes) that the very concept of a majority would have been highly controversial.”

It is believed that over 70 per cent of young voters chose to remain in the EU. This is enough to put the claims that the majority of the younger generation who were registered to vote didn’t bother to vote to bed.

Based on population data from the Office for National Statistics, it would have required a turnout of 73 per cent of young voters for the UK to have voted to remain in the EU.