AusPol101: Who are the young ones voting for in this election?

 

 

 

Election week is finally upon us and, as the 21^st looms, politicians are making last ditch efforts to win over undecided voters. So, for a bit of fun this week I decided to do something I do the other 51 weeks of the year – bother my friends by asking them about politics. Because if there’s any way you can predict an election outcome, it’s by the opinion of a 20-year old’s inner circle.

 

It’s not as if other poll predictions, often backed by statistics and professional poll analysts, are considered reliable by the public. If anything, despite a significant increase in the gap between the major parties, it’s hard to believe them without thinking back to the 2019 election where the Liberals defied all odds and pulled off an unlikely win. Even Scott Morrison claimed yesterday that he fully believed he would once again defy the polls and win a second term on Saturday.

 

My dad has been known to throw around the term ‘silent majority’ unironically, which I found incredibly ironic when he said it in relation to Donald Trump supporters during the 2020 US election. This year is no different, however I believe him to be more right this time around. While the position of the majority is yet to be known, I find Liberal party voters take the background in this election, so you often assume there are less than there are. But over the last 72 hours or so I found people I didn’t expect to vote for the Libs planning to do just that. I saw my landlord in the comment section of an anti-Josh Frydenberg ad voicing his support for the MP (upon reflection this should’ve been more obvious from my conversations with him) and my favourite regular at the bar told me on Saturday he would never vote for Labor.

 

Over the last few days, I’ve asked the people around me what they thought about the upcoming election and what they predicted the outcome to be. I also surveyed 90 young Australians, of which 80% believed that Labor would be taking home the win this weekend.

 

Although Tait hopes for a day where the Greens become a major player in the game, she believes too many people are afraid of change and is therefore expecting another win for the Liberals. But she sums her statement up with a wholehearted: “F*ck the major parties.”

 

Over breakfast my housemate Riley tells me he’s hoping for a Labor win, but “doesn’t keep up as much as he should and wouldn’t have a clue who’s in the lead.”

 

My mate Champ thinks “Democracy is a joke,” and encourages my readers to “vote to Legalise Cannabis Australia No. 1.”

 

I believe that Labor has this win in the bag, but in relation to all election result is the least of my concerns. What I am specifically keeping an eye on, and hoping for, is a hung parliament. While the many, many letters from the Liberals in my mail box (which is adorned with a “no junk mail” sign that has deterred no letter dropper) have warned me against a parliament where those dangerous Greens might stop the government from giving Australia’s most prestigious private schools five times the funding that public schools have received. For a university student with a state-school background, it’s really high on my list of concerns. It may just be the area I’m living in too, I’m well aware of how far I am outside the average family tax bracket in Kooyong.

 

Both Labor and The Liberals agree on the sentiment that a parliament where one of them doesn’t hold the majority of seats is bad, and so do whatever they can to deter voters from voting for minor parties. On the 15^th of May Labor MP Terri Butler shared an infographic warning people against “wasting their vote”, stating a vote for the Greens means keeping ScoMo in office. But this tactic works in the party’s favour, when reviewing my survey I found that almost 50% didn’t know what a hung parliament was. But nevertheless, I strongly believe that one party cannot successfully speak for a nation, nor do they look out for a nation as a whole. Morrison himself told ABC that he had to make tough choices and leave people behind during the pandemic, which some will think is a funny way of saying “I lined my corporate buddies pockets with millions of dollars from Job Keeper and left the average joe’s to fend for themselves, all while actively running from a federal ICAC.”

 

 

 

The balance of power falling to the cross benches is becoming increasingly probable, with the Greens party polling at a high of 15%. It’s an outcome I and many others are hoping for, and though Albanese has ruled out doing a deal with the minor party, it may be needed for Labor to form a secure win. In the meantime, I’ll be spending the next 96 hours scrolling ABC’s live election updates and crossing my fingers.

 

 

Read Grace Mackenzie’s other AusPol101 columns HERE.

 

 

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