15 hours ago
The Irish Times view on young people and democracy: increasing disenchantment
The increased polarisation of European politics appears to be marching in step with an alarming growth in disillusionment among young people with democracy itself, and fears for its survival. A new 10-country survey of 16-to-26-year-olds in Europe has found only six per cent believe their country's political system functions well and does not need reform.
Some 57 per cent of young people still prefer democracy to any other form of government – support is highest in Germany at 71 per cent, lowest in Poland at 48 per cent – but, ominously, 21 per cent say they would favour authoritarianism under some circumstances.
Only half of young people in France and Spain believe that democracy is the best form of government, the study found. And among those who see themselves as politically to the right of centre and feel economically disadvantaged, support for democracy sinks to just one in three. Forty-eight per cent – and 61 per cent in Germany – worry that the democratic system in their own country is endangered.
The survey of 6,700 young people by YouGov was carried out for the German TUI Foundation. It did not include Ireland.
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Political polarisation is deepening, manifested most clearly in the rise of populist parties: 19 per cent now identify with the right, up a quarter since 2021, 33 per cent with the centre, and an unchanged 32 per cent with the left. Sixteen per cent claim no label.
The survey also found a widening gender divide, with women, in particular in Germany, France and Italy reporting increasing support for progressive views while young men, notably in Poland and Greece, have swung to the right.
The poll also found 73 per cent of British young people want the UK to rejoin the EU.
The growing alienation from politics and political institutions reflects the sense among young people that the system has failed them and that their parents' generation has abanoned them. The survey is a timely, important warning that doing things in the old way will not be enough.
