More than a third of young people would prefer a return to Absolute Monarchy, research has found. And Labour’s plan to lower the voting age to 16 by the next election was condemned as a plot to “rig” the result by giving idealistic Left-wing youngsters the right to take part. But far from ushering in an era of peace and harmony, giving them the vote could promote authoritarianism and dictatorship, polling showed.
A shocking number of young people think democracy is a bad idea and are willing to embrace fascism – or even a return to the days when the monarch had real power.
And they are far more likely to back government-by-dictator than older voters.
Polling by think-tank Onward and Merlin Strategy found 37% of people aged 18 to 24 would support rule by “a king with no government or elections”.
The survey found 14% said they had a “very positive” view of this form of government, and 23% described their view as “fairly positive”.
Just 23% of people aged 65 or more had any sort of positive view of putting King Charles III in charge.
The study also found 25% of those aged 18 to 24 had a “very positive” or “quite positive” view of fascism.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, support for fascism is much lower among people aged 65 and over who may have grown up in the aftermath of World War Two, with just 7% having any sort of favourable view of fascism.
Support for Communism is even higher, with 32% of 18 to 24s having a positive view of the ideology ruthlessly adhered to by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, compared to 7% of people aged 65 and over.
Researchers Nicholas Stephenson and Phoebe Arslanagic-Little said: “The UK has been a parliamentary democracy since at least the 18th century. This polling reveals the base of support for this system is alarmingly weak among younger people.”
They added: “That the battleground of British politics is the centre-ground has to some extent assumed the status of a truism.
“But our results show that this consensus must be maintained and that to do so, politicians must do a better job of proving to young British people the value of a liberal, parliamentary democracy, from free elections to the rule of law.
“That not only means defending democratic norms in principle, but ensuring that institutions are delivering for younger generations, the same younger generations that this polling shows are losing faith in
the system.”
Younger people have traditionally been more inclined to vote Labour than pensioners, and polling company YouGov estimated that 41% of voters aged 18 to 24 backed Labour in the 2024 general election, compared to 28% of those aged 60 to 69.
But cutting the voting age could help more Left-wing parties such as the Green Party, polling expert Sir John Curtice has warned, while Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has predicted Labour will be in for “a nasty surprise” as young voters could back his party.