"Gen Y bother": Is the EU referendum debate reaching the youth vote?

Using the British EU-referendum as an example, the research looked at the messaging in the referendum campaigns and presented comparative data in attitudes towards Europe across age cohorts.

Following a brief overview of the research findings, MPs from different parties as well as campaigners from the academia and the NGO sector shared their first hand experiences of engaging young people in the EU discussion. As it became clear from the subsequent discussion with the audience, the messages in the campaign were too rarely related to the issues that matter to young people, hence a low turnout is to be expected. As the analysis suggests, turnout among the generation of 18-24 year olds is chronically low mainly due to the fact that young people do not feel informed enough to vote.