Will the under 25s vote for president? A few months before the first round, on April 10, the Montaigne Institute publishes Thursday, February 3 a study conducted on more than 8,000 young people aged 18 to 24. It reveals that 64% of those questioned show signs of “political disaffiliation”, i.e. they are not on the left-right scale and do not feel close to any party, “either through ignorance , either out of disinterest, or out of rejection”, specify the sociologists who carried out this survey.
Camille, 21, is one of them. This resident of Toulouse absolutely does not trust the representatives of political parties: “I’m afraid to attach myself to a politician and realize a few months later that he has harassed him some young women or so [qu’il a eu] a few fictitious jobs and I feel like it’s completely unavoidable. So, giving my voice to someone is necessarily supporting a lot of things that I don’t want to support at all. All of them in fact, even the left-wing candidates, even the rather green candidates, even those who call themselves anarchists…”
“I don’t see how one can hold on in the middle of politics as it is now, without leaving aside one’s values and without being a hustler.”
Camille, 21 years oldat franceinfo
Despite her mistrust, Camille still thinks of going to vote next April for the one who will have the most important ecological program.
Mélissa, also 21, expects candidates to think of students. And that’s not really the case, according to her, for now: “During the Covid, we were forgotten. But when it comes to presidential elections, we are asked for our votes when we are not necessarily represented and we are not necessarily asked what we want.
“There are plenty of reforms we would like to take an interest in. Pension reform, for example, we will be subject to. So we would also like to be listened to on this and we are not taken seriously. .”
Melissa, 21 years oldat franceinfo
“We are told that we are too young, that we do not understand politics and that we do not understand all the issues behind it. But no, we just have to integrate ourselves into the debates”, Melissa insists.
Debates sometimes far removed from the issues that are important to this generation. Maëlle, 19, would like us to talk about “ecology, minority rights, very important topical issues”. But she feels more like we’re talking “Economy, personal interests and friends. This does not encourage me to get more involved in politics this presidential election. And it’s a bit complicated to find your way around and be motivated.”
Iliès therefore prefers to turn to other ways of getting involved: “Demonstrations, groups, collective speaking out even student associations within faculties which can have much more impact, in my opinion, than the simple fact of going to vote for a party which does not represent us. “ He will still go to the voting booth, too, next April, but more by default than by conviction.
>> Generation 2022: every day franceinfo gives voice to young people aged 18-30.
During the last presidential election, in 2017, the abstention rate in the second round had reached 34% among 18-24 year olds, against 25.3% for all voters. Nearly 9 out of 10 young people had shunned the ballot boxes at the regional elections in June 2021.