Its depressing and scary.
The BBC has a good summary here.
To summaries the BBC report keys points :-
"
- 42% of people said they were interested in politics - down 16% on 2010 and the lowest figure since the audit was first carried out
- 48% of people said they would definitely vote if a general election was called tomorrow - down 10% from last year and again, the lowest figure in the audit's history
- 30% said they were unlikely or absolutely certain not to vote - up 10% from 2010
- 24% of people believe the current system of coalition government is working "reasonably well" - a fall of 7%
- 56% agree their involvement in politics locally could bring about change, but only 38% actually want to be involved
The single most shocking finding is the decline in people willing to exercise their democratic rights and vote.
Compare this to the first round of the French Presidential Elections which had a turnout of over 80%.
In recent times the turnout for UK general elections had risen,
Can we draw any conclusions from the fact that voter disillusion in France results in high turnout, whilst in the UK the same disillusion drives down the vote ?
Could it be that in the UK the " engagement " between our elected representatives and citizens is so broken that significant numbers of people consider that it is a waste of time to vote ?
Simply, the answer is yes !
If true, the social disengagement millions of people from our government can only lead to disaster and social breakdown. Remember the riots of summer 2011 ?
There is no easy answer but it starts with effort, by everyone to win back the trust in an essential relationship. So if you are an elected representative, ignore the spin doctors, ignore the spads and engage with real people. Face to face is good, twitter is good etc
I wish that on every ballot paper there was a " none of the above " option. If every candidate knew that that they could all be rejected its a different voting model.
And if you don't vote then you are a Twonk !
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