47% of Gen Z mainly vote to avoid a fine. It’s a sign of younger Australians’ discontent with democracy

Young Australians will shape the upcoming federal election. For the first time, Gen Z and Millennials are the dominant voter bloc^[1], outnumbering Baby Boomers.

But over the past couple of years, we’ve heard stories from around the world about how Gen Z (people born between 1997 and 2012) are discontent with democracy. In the United States, just 62% of Gen Z voters believe living in a democracy is important^[2], compared with nearly 90% of other generations.

Globally, more than one in three young people support a strong leader^[3] who disregards parliaments and elections. This proportion is higher than among any older generation.

Our recent research^[4] suggests Gen Z Australians aren’t immune to feeling disengaged with democracy. In fact, we found high rates of political disaffection among the country’s youngest voters, and those who didn’t vote, at the last federal election.

Our research

On the face of it, the situation seems better in Australia than elsewhere. According to Australian Election Study^[5] data, more than 85% of Gen Z voted at the 2022 federal election.

And, again according to the study, the majority seem content with mainstream parties. While Gen Z people support the Greens and minor parties more than their elders, around 60% of them voted for the Labor Party and the Coalition in 2022.

But we wanted to dig deeper. So in 2023, we asked around 1,500 Gen Z Australians nationwide whether they voted or not in 2022, and why.

This enabled us to look at three distinct groups: those who voted; those who enrolled but did not vote (whom we call “abstainers”); and those who did not enrol to vote at all (whom we call “unregistered”).

We found almost half of Gen Z who voted said the main reason was not out of a sense of duty or to support a party, but simply to avoid getting fined.

While our survey can’t say how this compares to other generations, we know from the 2022 election study^[6] that 63% of Gen Z adults said they would have voted even if not compulsory, compared with almost 90% of other generations.

Our research also shows almost a third of Gen Z citizens who didn’t register to vote said they either didn’t know they had to or they didn’t know how. This is troubling, given the efforts of the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) to get everyone on the roll.

Those who don’t vote

Our survey revealed if you’re a Gen Z Australian who didn’t vote (whether as abstainer or unregistered), you’re more likely to be unemployed, less politically interested and have less faith in democracy as the best system of government. You’re also more likely to have been born outside Australia.

More than 50% of abstainers and 70% of unregistered Gen Z attributed their non-participation to a sense of disengagement, either from the whole political process or from parties and politicians specifically.

Not participating, however, doesn’t mean you’re entirely alienated from society. Non-voters in our study are actually more likely to be members of organisations such as charities or church groups. But they are more alienated from the democratic process.

Curiously, we found non-voters were no more likely than voters to hold negative views towards political parties. When asked questions such as whether they agreed that “parties do not care about people like me” and “parties are all the same”, there were no significant differences between these two groups.

While this may sound like good news for parties, the less cheerful reality is the lack of difference is because Gen Z voters are just as sceptical as non-voters about political parties.

So why does Gen Z vote?

Enthusiasm towards parties has little to do with why Gen Z goes to the ballot box. Just 11% of them said the main reason they turned out in 2022 was because “there was a party or candidate I wanted to vote for”.

Only around one in five said their primary motivation was because “I thought that voting makes a difference”.

Instead, by far the most important reason for casting a vote was “I did not want to get fined”. This was the main driver for 47% of Gen Z Australians.

On one hand, this seems like a great advertisement for compulsory voting with enforced penalties. Even a small fine like the $20 for not voting in a federal election is enough to get many Gen Z people to vote.

On the other, if the key motivation is just to avoid a fine, it’s not a great sign of a healthy democracy.

What can be done?

Based on our research, there are a few things that might engage Gen Z more with parties and democracy.

One is better information. Our survey showed there are still some Gen Z people who don’t know about their obligation to register or how to do it. The AEC has made great strides in increasing youth enrolment^[7] over the past decade, but there remains work to be done.

Being present on the platforms Gen Z use to get their news might help. From that perspective, the AEC’s decision to join TikTok^[8] earlier this year was a wise one.

Read more: If we listen to how gen Z really feel about democracy they might stop telling us they prefer authoritarianism^[9]

Ultimately, the main onus lies with the political parties. If Gen Z are not motivated to support them, perhaps this tells us more about how parties engage with young people and their concerns, than it does about young people themselves.

If the major parties can devote more attention to what matters to Gen Z^[10], such as the cost of living, rent affordability, and climate change, they would not only address what are objectively pressing issues – they might also help reconnect young generations with politics and democracy.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said the Australian Electoral Commission didn’t have a TikTok account. The copy has been updated to reflect that the AEC joined the platform earlier this year._

References

1. ^{^} dominant voter bloc (theconversation.com)
2. ^{^} living in a democracy is important (citizendata.com)
3. ^{^} support a strong leader (www.opensocietyfoundations.org)
4. ^{^} Our recent research (journals.sagepub.com)
5. ^{^} Australian Election Study (australianelectionstudy.org)
6. ^{^} 2022 election study (australianelectionstudy.org)
7. ^{^} increasing youth enrolment (www.abc.net.au)
8. ^{^} join TikTok (www.tiktok.com)
9. ^{^} If we listen to how gen Z really feel about democracy they might stop telling us they prefer authoritarianism (theconversation.com)
10. ^{^} what matters to Gen Z (theconversation.com)