Ahead of the European election, striking data shows where Gen Z and millennials’ allegiances lie.

Ahead of the European election, striking data shows where Gen Z and millennials’ allegiances lie.

Far-right parties are surging across Europe — and young voters are buying in.

Many parties with anti-immigrant agendas are even seeing support from first-time young voters in the upcoming June 6-9 European Parliament election.

In Belgium, France, Portugal, Germany and Finland, younger voters are backing anti-immigration and anti-establishment parties in numbers equal to and even exceeding older voters, analyses of recent elections and research of young people’s political preferences suggest.

In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders’ anti-immigration far-right Freedom Party won the 2023 election on a campaign that tied affordable housing to restrictions on immigration — a focus that struck a chord with young voters. In Portugal, too, the far-right party Chega, which means “enough” in Portuguese, drew on young people’s frustration with the housing crisis, among other quality-of-life concerns.

The analysis also points to a split: While young women often reported support for the Greens and other left-leaning parties, anti-migration parties did particularly well among young men. (Though there are some exceptions. See France, below, for example.)

  • Tinidril@midwest.socialEnglish
    95·
    7 months ago

    100% the fault of a political class that puts the needs of donors ahead of all else. Fascism has always been the result of neoliberalism. It’s absolutely predictable. The best and the worst ballot choices that most people have all lead to the rise of fascism.

    • TigrisMorte@kbin.social
      61·
      7 months ago

      those whom you call “political class”, are in fact the representatives of the very wealthy, are only there as lots of Eligible Voters sat out prior elections, and the “political class”'s owners paid for the propaganda that convinced them to do so. Exact same bullshit they’ve sold to you in fact.

      • Tinidril@midwest.socialEnglish
        31·
        7 months ago

        I’m not sure why you assume I don’t know who’s pulling the strings. However, the impact of those who don’t vote is dwarfed by the impact of those who vote for the wrong candidates. I know it’s liberal orthodoxy to write off a ton of voters completely, but I think that’s a mistake.

        If I have to blame voters for the predicament we’re in now, I would have to land on Biden voters in the 2020 primary. It’s hard to blame them though without blaming corporate mainstream media that lied constantly about electability in the general.

        As for why Trump became president in 2016, I think the failures of the Obama presidency are pretty relevant. Obama ran as a reformer in 2008, and voters turned out for him in massive numbers. Then Obama betrayed them by being the most milquetoast establishment President possible.

        There is plenty of blame to go around, but none of that interests me. What I care about is, what strategies might dig us out of this mess. Voters shaming is not a viable strategy, and it’s more likely to drive voters away than help.

        The other big thing that voter shamers don’t get is that we don’t just need people to show up at the polls. Democrats tend to write off the youth vote because they vote in lower numbers than other demographics. However, when it comes to phone banking, knocking on doors, or marching in the streets, youth far outstrip other demographics. Enthusiasm is critical, and voter shaming destroys it. Whatever grassroots movement was behind Biden is utterly dead, and Zionist Biden is responsible.

        • TigrisMorte@kbin.social
          41·
          7 months ago

          I tore your entire bullshit position to shreds, so you whined a lot about unrelated crap in an effort to distract from your having no leg to stand on.

          • Tinidril@midwest.socialEnglish
            21·
            7 months ago

            That’s an interesting take. Let me know if anyone lets you know that they decided to vote Biden because of voter shaming. I won’t hold my breath

    • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
      61·
      7 months ago

      Only showing up to vote every four years, and assuming we won’t slide into fascism because you pushed the right button, is silly. On that we agree.

      Not using the power of the ballot box in addition to all the other much more difficult / impactful things which are required for real change is much, much worse. It’s like, “Oh no the wrong people are in charge! This is very unfair. Better just give up and let them do whatever then.”

      • Tinidril@midwest.socialEnglish
        41·
        7 months ago

        The rise of fascism is always the result of a long strong of causes. In a democracy the final cause in that chain will always be voters, but I think it’s intellectually lazy to assume that makes the failure of voters “worse”.

        Most of the voters who don’t show up are just disinterested in politics for a variety of reasons. I don’t think there area many that say “Oh, no, a problem! Better ignore it”!

        Blaming voters might be somehow cathartic, but the voters you’re blaming aren’t going to care. That’s the way to go if you care more about assigning blame than actually addressing the problems.

      • TigrisMorte@kbin.social
        3·
        7 months ago

        Lots more elections than every four! Every Election, no excuses!

        Bellow I’ve filtered out the primaries, which often have issues not related to party as well, and excludes local elections.

        link at end:
        “2023 – November (Constitutional)
        Registered Voters
        17,759,273
        Voting Age Population (VAP)
        21,925,627
        Percentage of VAP Registered
        81.00%
        Turnout
        2,563,469
        Percent of Turnout to Registered
        14.43%
        Percent of Turnout to VAP
        11.69%
        2022 – November (Gubernatorial)
        Registered Voters
        17,672,143
        Voting Age Population (VAP)
        21,866,700
        Percentage of VAP Registered
        80.82%
        Turnout
        8,102,908
        Percent of Turnout to Registered
        45.85%
        Percent of Turnout to VAP
        37.06%
        2021 - November (Constitutional)
        Registered Voters
        16,968,756
        Voting Age Population (VAP)
        21,866,700
        Percentage of VAP Registered
        77.60%
        Turnout
        1,485,066
        Percent of Turnout to Registered
        8.75%
        Percent of Turnout to VAP
        6.79%
        2020 – November (Presidential)
        Registered Voters
        16,955,519
        Voting Age Population (VAP)
        21,596,071
        Percentage of VAP Registered
        78.51%
        Turnout
        11,315,056
        Percent of Turnout to Registered
        66.73%
        Percent of Turnout to VAP
        52.39” - https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/historical/70-92.shtml