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Voter turnout in Canada is lowest for young voters. A general decline in electoral participation among the under-35 population has been observed in many democratic countries around the world, especially in Canada. "The youngest age cohort did experience a bump upwards in estimated voter turnout from 37% in the 2004 federal general election to 43.8% for the election that followed, before descending to 37.4% for the 2008 federal general election."〔(Taiaiake., Pitawanakwat, Brook., and Price, Jackie. "The Meaning of Political Participation for Indigenous Youth: Charting the Course for Youth Civic and Political Participation." ''Canadian Policy Research Networks''. Jun 2007. Web. 25 Nov 2011. < www.cprn.ca/documents/48503_EN.pdf> )〕 Participation in provincial elections for youth aged 18 to 24 was 28% in 2001. However, in the 2005 provincial election, the turnout in this age group increased to 35%.〔(Andre. "Youth Voter Turnout in Canada: 1 Trends and Issues." Library of Parliament. 7 Apr 2010. Web. 11 Nov 2011. "Detailed analyses of electoral participation since the 1968 federal election indicate that much of the decline has been driven by generational replacement."〔()〕 Indeed, the differences in electoral participation across age groups can be seen as a generation gap phenomenon. "The rate of voter participation declines steadily as one moves from the oldest to the youngest age cohorts." 〔(Jon H.. LeDuc, Lawrence. "Explaining the Turnout Decline in Canadian Federal Elections: A New Survey of Non-voters." ''Elections Canada''. Mar 2003. Web. Oct 2011 The proportion of Canadians under 15 years of age dropped from 32.5% in 1941 to 17.6% in 2006.〔(Andrew. "Historical Voter Turnout in Canada Federal Elections & Referenda, 1867-2008." ''Elections''. Web. 04 Nov. 2011. Younger Canadians tend to be less interested in politics: Only one in 20 Canadians between 18 and 30 years of age (in 2000) had ever belonged to a political party, compared with one-third of those over age 60.〔(Mackinnon, Mary Pat. , Pitre, Sonia. , and Watling Judy. "Lost in Translation: (Mis) Understanding Youth Engagment: Synthesis Report." ''Canadian Policy Research Networks''. Oct 2007. Web. 26 Nov 2011. < www.cprn.ca/documents/48800_FR.pdf> )〕 There is concern whether a failure to engage younger Canadians early will have a detrimental effect on our democracy over time. "There is no question that over the past two decades, we have seen youth voting rates declining at a precipitous rate to the point where clear majorities of the younger generations don’t vote and may well never do so."〔(Frank. "The Looming Legitimacy Crisis: Time to Take the Discretionary out of Democracy?" ''Ekos Politics''. 21 Oct 2011. Web. 22 Nov 2011. < http://www.ekospolitics.com/index.php/2011/10/the-looming-legitimacy-crisis-october-21-2011/> )〕 == Young voter turnout factors == We might wonder why the youth are not very interested in more traditional types of political participation. Stephen P. Nicholson uses Ricker’s suggestion that the outcome of a vote may depend on the agenda.〔(Stephen P. Voting The Agenda: Candidates, Elections, And Ballot Propositions. Princeton; Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2005. )〕 What type of agenda settings are shaping young Canadians? What is the trend in youth civic and political engagement in Canada? To what degree do political activities influence young Canadian voters? How do social differences influence the structure of society? An analysis of basic theoretical reasons behind the low voter turnout of young Canadians was done based on quantitative and qualitative research. The analysis reported some factors that contributed to the unwillingness of youth to vote and to participate in democracy: 1. Social Factors, different implications of youth values from older generation.〔(Mary Pat. , Pitre, Sonia. , and Watling Judy. "Lost in Translation: (Mis) Understanding Youth Engagment: Synthesis Report." Canadian Policy Research Networks. Oct 2007. Web. 26 Nov 2011. < www.cprn.ca/documents/48800_FR.pdf> )〕 2. Institutional Factor, differences in Political discourses. It will highlight demographic trends in Canada and have created this new fixation on age as a major determinant of political participation and public policy.〔(Susan A. Young Vs. Old: Generational Combat in the 21st Century.Colorado; Oxford: Westview Press, Inc., A Division of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1996. P. 4. )〕 Also, what is the role of newspaper to engage with the young voters? There is no particular reason to attribute low voter turnout to any one factor, though some factors may be more important than others.〔(Jon. H., and LeDuc, Lawrence. "Explaining the Turnout Decline in Canadian Federal Elections: A New Survey of Non-voters." Elections Canada. Carleton; Toronto: Mar 2003. Web. 14 Oct 2011. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Young voter turnout in Canada」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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