Wait until the day of the elections to decide the direction of the vote. Changing parties without hesitation. Or not even go to the polls. These are some features that, according to experts, are shared by a good part of the young voters before elections like those of next May 28. In the imminent electoral process, 20% of those called to participate are under 35 years of age. And 1.5 million can exercise active suffrage for the first time on a polarized political board, with an apparent return to bipartisanship, and in which many feel “forgotten” until the start of the campaign, when the candidates flood the rallies with “false promises”. EL PAÍS has interviewed six young people from different parts of Spain and disparate ideologies to find out their feelings about elections, so tight in some territories, that it will be crucial to mobilize the young vote, traditionally more abstentionist.
José Antonio Vozmediano, 33 years old: “They have us used to treating us like idiots”
José Antonio Vozmediano, a 33-year-old professor of Language and Literature in Granada, supported United We Can in the last general elections. He considered that these acronyms proposed a look that “expands rights for all” and promotes “access to a more dignified life.” As a high school teacher, he also maintains continuous contact with minors whose political sensitivities are developing. “When I talk to the kids, I see the way they perceive what the problems are. And among them there is a discredit with the political class, which probably has to do with the way of communicating. Also with the rebellious character of age. Vox has an anti-system discourse and they find an antidote in it, the problem is that this anti-system has to do with harassment and intolerance,” says the man from Granada.
According to the Center for Sociological Research (CIS), Vox will receive around 7% of the support of those under 35 years of age, figures above those observed in older people. Along these lines, the director of public opinion research at Ipsos, Paco Camas, considers that society is in a moment of regression, coinciding with the incorporation of far-right parties, such as Vox, which “give legal status to issues that before were thought but not said and are now exposed without any kind of complex”.
Both in the campaign and in the pre-campaign, the political groups have been launching, act after act, measures aimed at young people, such as aid in the acquisition of the first home, scholarships to study, support for leisure and travel or initiatives to facilitate emancipation parental. Regarding this constant bombardment, Vozmediano from Granada is critical: “We live in constant pre-election anxiety. There is no time to stop and think about what is propaganda and what is reality, you don’t know when they sell you the motorcycle and when they don’t. I miss campaigns with a fat exercise in honesty, in the sense that this can be done and this cannot. And these are our true bets”.
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Pablo Seoane, 31 years old: “I am not sure who I will vote for on May 28”
Pablo Seoane, a Post Office official in Cangas do Morrazo (Pontevedra), is part of that 23% of those under 35 who, according to CIS data, do not know which political formation they will opt for on May 28. Added to this is the fact that 4.43% will not directly vote, a number above the rest of the age groups. Both circumstances make this population group a clear target for the proclamations of political leaders in the final stretch of the campaign, as Paco Camas explains. “Depending on which sites, the result will be very tight, so it is necessary to collect each vote. We must try to mobilize those who traditionally do not mobilize, it is essential, because the difference to get a government will be very little.
Among the structural elements that influence greater abstentionism among young people is the fact that developing a link with politics is always a long process. The closeness with politics is acquired as the individual joins the working life, or if he wants to start a family, since the subject appears more to public life. Until then, it is more difficult to feel questioned. As we move into our thirties, that interest begins to be felt more strongly.
In addition to being traditionally more abstentionists, young people are more likely to change parties in each electoral process. “You build your political memory according to what you have learned or have lived, but there is no direct link anymore. You live the most immediate and what is the current situation. With the pandemic or the economic crisis of 2008 as the two great turning points in today’s youth.
For the director of the company 40dB., Belén Barreiro, the most important thing is that, unlike older people, “young people have not had time to develop partisan loyalties, they are fickle.” Consequently, she explains, “they are also less likely to focus on acronyms and more on concrete proposals.”
And at the moment the Galician Seoane is at it. In these last days, this thirty-year-old will attend the rallies and programs of his Pontevedra municipality, with 26,832 inhabitants, to opt for one party or another. In Cagas de Morrazo, the local Executive is made up of a left-wing tripartite. “Voting locally is different because you vote more for the person than for the party,” admits the Post Office official, who in the general elections opted for the PSOE. “Now I would consider voting for the PP in Cangas even if they are right-wing. Because when they governed in the past, before those who are now, they did it well. The left-wing tripartite has had a more difficult time”.
Giomar de Urioste, 18 years old: “At one point I even thought about not voting, but in the end I thought that this is giving your opinion in some way”
Giomar de Urioste, student of Journalism and Humanities in Madrid, She is one of the 1.5 million young people who will exercise their right to vote for the first time on May 18. From Urioste, born into a family that supports the Popular Party, she will be faithful to the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso. “The first thing I like about Ayuso is that she values Madrid a lot and she feels very proud to be from Madrid. I also see that she has the nose to do what needs to be done, ”she says. Of course, this university is not so clear about her preferences for the candidate for the City Council of the capital, José Manuel Martínez Almeida.
The “transversality” of Ayuso in all population groups, whatever their age, indicates the researcher Camas, causes surveys such as the CIS and 40dB. prepared for EL PAÍS and Cadena SER place the popular close to the absolute majority. The president’s communication team has also been able to transfer to the most popular social network among the youngest, TikTok, the melody of her campaign, Desireand already accumulates tens of millions of views on the short video platform.
A few years ago, the emergence of new parties such as Podemos and Ciudadanos capitalized on a large part of the young vote. A trend that now, and especially in these elections on May 28, has slowed down. “That vote is returning to PP and PSOE also among young people. From 18 to 24 more to the PP. The left needs to mobilize its own, but the right has been mobilizing for two years, since Pedro Sánchez came to the Government ”, analyzes Paco Camas. “They ask people to vote with the desire for there to be a change, they will vote motivated by that even if they are the municipal ones.” Regarding the ideological spectrum, Belén Barreiro maintains that “they are more progressive. In the municipal elections, there is a greater propensity to vote for the PSOE than for the PP”.
Ainhoa Dávila, 20 years old: “The institutions should do more effective work so that young people vote”
Ainhoa Dávila, a law student in Telde (Las Palmas), is also a first-time voter. Dávila has had a passion for politics for years, which, in her case, led her to join the bases of the Socialist Party because the formation defends what is “rational and coherent.” “Because of her speech, she could vote for Podemos, but I didn’t like her way of doing politics,” considers this university student, who laments the little value that young people today give to the right to active suffrage. “They vote for anyone because they don’t think they have an impact on their life. I am involved in this, but I am the exception to the norm, more effective work should be done in the institutions so that young people vote”, complains this member of Juventudes Socialistas.
Although among the experts, young people are politically grouped under the umbrella of those over 35, within this group there are differences by age segments. A division that in turn affects the conditions of their sense of vote. “The youngest, from 18 to 24 years old, are more focused on identity issues, not material ones. The latter begin to worry more about material issues, such as housing”, Barreiro emphasizes. “It is categorized like this because they share some common elements: when you have a job but you are financially independent, it is now not usual to do it before the age of 35. It is the cut that is made in all countries, ”says Camas. Regarding Sumar, the data indicates that she was born with a great degree of transversality, but not so much among young people, but rather in the age range of 55 to 64 years. “In the stripes of minors, the PSOE is more competitive. But it is unknown what could happen ”, indicates Camas.
Irache Goded, 30 years old: “The first time I voted was for the PP, in my family, which is on the left, they did not believe it”
Irache Goded, a nurse in Teruel, was born and raised with the Teruel Existe citizen movement, and now votes for this regionalist party born in defense of the abandonment suffered, in her opinion, by territories of empty Spain. “I have never been pigeonholed in a party because none represented me 100%,” recalls Goded, who believes that the formation led by Tomás Guitarte flees from electoralism and campaigns and works “tirelessly all year round” for the people of his land. “I feel identified with those who get involved and don’t put sticks in the wheels for their territories, like Lambán”, points out Goded. This nurse barely pays attention to the campaign, nor to politics on a daily basis.
Raquel Ayala, 27 years old: “Voting reinforces the system, and if I don’t agree with the political system, why am I going to vote for it?
Raquel Ayala, 27, is an opponent of the local administration in Murcia and takes abstention to its maximum expression. She professes what is known as “active abstention”, a practice that consists of going to the polling stations during the appointment at the polls and, once there, taking the ballots and tearing them up. It is her tool to demonstrate her discontent with the system. “We refuse to be complicit, it is a way of demonstrating in a civilized manner and of emphasizing that we are aware of the value of our vote. They make us believe that we have sovereignty, but it’s just a way to endorse closed lists. They have been in charge of creating a system that cannot be changed from within, that is why all politicians call for citizen participation, voting is not a civic duty, voting is a right”, defends Ayala.
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