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Voting age

(17 Posts)
millymouge Fri 24-Jun-16 16:16:55

I seem to remember that some while ago there was a discussion as to whether the voting age should be lowered to 16, but nothing came of it. It seems to me that many 16 year olds are perfectly capable of making a decision regarding the future of our country, and in light of recent voting results I wonder if the outcome would have been different, especially as I think I saw somewhere that only 72% of the population voted. As it will obviously effect their future, probably more than ours, perhaps we should have asked their opinion.

ginny Fri 24-Jun-16 20:21:43

Maybe a lot of the younger generation are thinking today that there should be an upper age limit too.

Largolass Fri 24-Jun-16 21:02:59

In Scotland the voting age is 16

Largolass Fri 24-Jun-16 21:04:14

In Scotland 16 year olds are entitled to Vote

millymouge Fri 24-Jun-16 21:14:41

Why do you think that ginny do you think the older generation may have a lot to do with the result?

jinglbellsfrocks Fri 24-Jun-16 21:17:18

They definitely did. Daft old duffers voted out.

Auntieflo Fri 24-Jun-16 21:34:33

JBF, we are old duffers, confused 74 and 77, we voted remain.

Welshwife Fri 24-Jun-16 21:44:58

Had Expats who have lived abroad for 15 -+ years had a vote the result would have been different. I know many think they should not have the vote but many have ties and still pay tax in UK and this result will affect many of them more than the UK population.

Charleygirl Fri 24-Jun-16 22:01:57

Not all old duffers voted out!

ginny Fri 24-Jun-16 23:00:08

MIllymouge. Yes I think the majority of younger voters would have voted to stay in judging by those I and friends and family have spoken to.

M0nica Sat 25-Jun-16 10:02:16

Many older people voted to stay in. I think socio demographics and geographical location were far a better predictor of voting choices than age. In areas where the majority of older people voted out, more younger people voted out as well.

I am not in favour of reducing the voting age to 16. I came from a family with a strong and vocal interest in politics and the subject was frequently discussed over the dining table and elsewhere. As a result I became fascinated by politics at a very young age, probably 5 or 6. So by the time I was 16 I was pretty knowledgeable on the subject, but I do not think my 16 year old self, despite my consuming interest in politics and, for the period, an unusually cosmopolitan childhood was mature enough or had enough experience of life to make a fully considered decision.

At 16, influenced by the political views held within my family, I would have voted for a party and policies that have not once voted for since I acquired the franchise at 21. I think most 16 year olds would either go with the views held within the family or oppose them just to assert their independence.

Marmark1 Sat 25-Jun-16 17:22:00

I think you're right MOnica, and I think most young people will have entirely different views when they're older.
And for Christ sakes stop calling us names,(not you MOnica) so you lost,get over it.My group of friends are ne'er enough the same age,we didn't all vote the same.

Marmark1 Sat 25-Jun-16 18:48:51

The good people of this country are happy to share,they're not happy to give it away.

lizzypopbottle Sat 25-Jun-16 20:15:53

I know someone who believes it's parliament's job to make these decisions. That's what MPs are there for; to make the big decisions on our behalf. After all the tennis match rhetoric, the hysteria, scaremongering and anger stoking, many normally rational people, of all ages will have been undecided right up to the moment of standing with the ballot paper in front of them, pencil poised. Some of them will have gone, mentally, eeny meeny miny mo. Many people will have been so confused by the opposing camps that they'll have voted with their heart rather than their head, or the way their parents voted or been scared into voting one way or the other. Some will have been too indecisive to vote at all. It's been a badly run fiasco from start to finish. I've been sick and tired of it for weeks, maybe months. I'm glad it's over bar the tears of the losers.

lizzypopbottle Sat 25-Jun-16 20:16:59

And I do think some 16 year olds would be capable of voting rationally but most wouldn't be.

weny62 Sat 25-Jun-16 21:08:41

As someone who finished a degree 2 years ago I find the thought of 16 year olds voting scary in the extreme. I studied politics and even some of the 18-21 year olds in the forms had little real knowledge of the world. At 16 I thought communism was the best system a few years later and I realised it was for it to work as in Animal Farm. I also find the complaints from the younger generation about the result insulting, people who have lived and worked for many years have just as much right to a vote as they have. It also suggests that they feel that their opinion has more validity than other peoples, andthey appear to have a sense of entitlement and inability to accept defeat.

M0nica Sat 25-Jun-16 21:16:18

The result would have been diferent if the same proportion of young people voted as older. If young people cared that much they should have voted.