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Democracy for the youth? The impact of mock elections on voting age attitudes

Larsen, Erik Gahner, Levinsen, Klaus, Kjær, Ulrik (2016) Democracy for the youth? The impact of mock elections on voting age attitudes. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 26 (4). pp. 435-451. ISSN 1745-7289. (doi:10.1080/17457289.2016.1186031) (KAR id:63458)

Abstract

Should 16-year-olds be entitled to participate in elections? We theorize that mock elections for adolescents, who are not eligible to vote, affect the short-term support among the general public for lowering the voting age. To test our theoretical expectation, we utilize variation among municipalities in the organization of mock elections during the Danish local elections in 2009. Difference-in-difference estimates with data from the subsequent local elections in 2013 demonstrate that citizens in municipalities with mock elections for adolescents were more supportive of lowering the voting age and that their support was strongly rooted in ideological differences.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1080/17457289.2016.1186031
Subjects: J Political Science > JA Political science (General)
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Politics and International Relations
Depositing User: Erik Larsen
Date Deposited: 18 Sep 2017 10:03 UTC
Last Modified: 04 Mar 2024 19:35 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/63458 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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