Young people aren't voting Tory
Rishi Sunak’s general election campaign hasn’t been getting off to a good start. The Tories are still miles behind Labour in the polls.
That’s bad enough. But at least Sunak can take some comfort from the fact that the Tories remain in second place.
Unfortunately for him, the Tories are not in second place with all of the electorate. According to a YouGov MRP poll, the Tories are behind Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens among 18-24 year olds, and are level pegging with the Lib Dems among 25-29 year olds with the Greens in second place and Labour first.
YouGov found that 57 per cent of 18-24 year olds intend to vote Labour, 14 per cent intend to vote Green, 10 per cent intend to vote Lib Dem and 8 per cent intend to vote Tory. Among 25-29 year olds, 59 per cent say they intend to vote Labour, 13 per cent intend to vote Green, 9 per cent intend to vote Lib Dem and 9 per cent intend to vote Tory.
The poll also found that the Tories are only narrowly ahead of the Lib Dems and Greens among 30-39 year olds. Only among the over 70s is support for the Tories higher than support for Labour.
The poll was conducted between 3-21 May 2024, before the general election was called, and before Sunak announced his proposals to reintroduce National Service. That policy seems unlikely to turn things around for the Tories with young voters…
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
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