Tuning out -2024: Explaining Declining Turnout and its Impact. James Prentice, Doctoral student - University of Sussex.

A key but unexplored theme of this year’s general election was a noticeable sense of voter apathy, leading to a large decrease in turnout. Across all constituencies, turnout declined by 7.6%. In fact, turnout declined so starkly that it has returned to a historic low, the second lowest turnout election since the First World War. As in the 2001 parliamentary cycle, turnout now sits below 65%, meaning that over a third of voters chose not to participate. As this was a “change” election, this prompts the question of why turnout was so low and the extent to which this drop in participation impacted the election result. This Paper's summarises research conducted around this topic by the author and finds:&nbsp; <br><br> 1. Individuals who worked in working-class occupations and rented their accommodation in areas greatly impacted by multiple deprivation were the most likely to stop voting.<br><br> 2. Constituencies Labour retained displayed the highest turnout decreases. This indicates Labour struggled to engage voters in traditional Labour-leaning deprived areas reliant on socially rented forms of accommodation.<br> <br> 3. The level of distrust and dissatisfaction with the political system and its representatives were the key factors in decreasing turnout.<br><br> 4. The next most significant impact on decreasing turnout was a feeling that none of the parties offered the policy ideas and the vision needed to fix the many problems the country faces.<br><br> 5. When an individual believed no party could competently manage their biggest concerns an increase in disengagement occurred.<br><br> 6. The theory that turnout declined mostly due to Conservative voters in Tory heartlands choosing to stay at home has little evidence supporting it.<br> <br> 7. The extent to which an individual approved of an individual leader or party did not produce a significant decrease in turnout.<br><br> 8. The new issue of photo ID was not significant, indicating people actively chose to disengage with the political system.<br><br>Read the summary paper for more details.&nbsp;