How does susceptibility to mis- and disinformation, and its impact (if any) on voting behaviour, vary by age? What impact could extending the franchise to 16 and 17 year olds have on this?

Background

Engaging as many people as possible in the democratic process is a key MHCLG goal. The department is keen to understand the interventions that can help facilitate higher levels of engagement, especially from young people, including registering and voting.

Next steps

Get in touch with [email protected]

Source

This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:

25 02 2025 Updated MHCLG ARI

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Related UKRI funded projects


  • Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Politics of Adolescence and Democracy

    IP-PAD (Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Politics of Adolescence & Democracy) aims to address a timely, pressing societal issue, namely the understanding of how young adolescent citizens process political inform...

    Funded by: Horizon Europe Guarantee

    Lead research organisation: Royal Holloway University of London

    Why might this be relevant?

    Partially relevant as it focuses on youth engagement with politics but does not specifically address susceptibility to misinformation or impact on voting behavior.

  • First and Foremost - Understanding and optimising the electoral participation of first time voters

    First times are moments that many never forget. According to Bruter and Harrison (2017), 73% of British people, 82% of Americans, and 90% of South Africans remember their first vote. The existing literature has also conf...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: London School of Economics and Political Science

    Why might this be relevant?

    Partially relevant as it focuses on understanding and optimizing the electoral participation of first-time voters, but does not specifically address susceptibility to misinformation or impact on voting behavior by age.

  • Scottish Election Study 2016

    In May 2016 Scottish residents aged 16+ will vote in the fifth election to the Scottish Parliament. This takes place a year after the UK General Election in which the SNP won all but three Scottish seats, and 20 months a...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Edinburgh

    Why might this be relevant?

    Partially relevant as it focuses on exploring voting behavior in Scottish elections and the impact of the referendum, but does not specifically address susceptibility to misinformation or impact on voting behavior by age.

  • Scottish Election Study 2026-2031

    The Scottish Election Study is an independent ESRC-funded study of political attitudes and behaviour in Scotland. Its primary purpose is to collect attitudinal and behavioural data to identify the drivers of vote choice ...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH