Swedish elections - "Generation Greta", young voters and problems for democracy
Before the recent general elections in Sweden, many Swedes thought “the young people” in general would vote for progressive and left-wing parties. This is partly based on thoughts and assumptions that young people care a lot about topics such as climate and environment, refugees and humanity, welfare politics and social justice. There is also an older belief that young people “are not conservative” and “are progressive” in their values, mindset and political identities.
My personal experience from the high-school period 2006-2008 is young men voting for the far-right Sweden Democrats as a way to joke, provoke and make fun of the school elections (not real elections, but more as training pupils about representative democracy). However, the result of the recent elections shows that that has not been the case and that the situation is more complicated and different compared to the stories about “Generation Greta” named after the famous climate activist Greta Thunberg.
So what are the reasons and explanations for why most of the young voters in Sweden, often seen as a very progressive and liberal society, voted for conservatives and right-wing populists? Here are some examples:
Climate change topics are still engaging many young people in Sweden. However, the number of more engaged and interested young voters has decreased, partly due to younger voters being more engaged in other topics such as crime and punishment, order and security.
There are some general differences between young men and women. The support for the far-right populists mainly comes from young men while younger women tend to support progressive political parties such as greens and socialists. While young men tend to be more concerned about crime and violence, partly because they are more likely to be affected, young women are focusing more on welfare and healthcare topics.
General demand for political regime change. During 2014-2022, Sweden was mainly governed by a coalition between Social Democrats and Greens. Many young voters have seen them in power during two electoral terms. Thereby, voting for the right-wing parties was seen as an alternative for a smaller majority of young voters to vote for what they saw as a general change in politics, governance and how Sweden should develop.
Tik-Tok generation. Modern young voters are more focused on using TikTok and the far-right Sweden Democrats was the party that invested the most money, around 1,4 million SEK, on promoting themselves on TikTok. At the same time, research states that only a minority of first-time voters have seen TikTok as critical during the election process.
Young voters are more “trendily/fashion voters”. According to research done by political scientists at Gothenburg University, younger voters tend to vote for parties and policies that are considered to be “popular” and “stylish” at the current moment. For example, ten years ago, many young Swedes were mainly voting for green and other progressive parties due to focus on gender equality, climate change and humanitarian migration.
In my earlier article, based on a book written by Olle Waestberg who is one of the main democracy activists in Sweden, you can read about the following behaviors among younger voters:
Young Swedes in age 16–25 are more interested in society and politics than compared to earlier periods. At the same time, around 50 % of Swedes in age 18–29 think it would be better for experts, rather than government and the parliament, to make the best decisions for Sweden.
A large number of young Swedes think that they do not have the possibilities to present their opinions and ideas to politicians at the local level.
During several World Values Surveys, around 25% of Swedes in age 18–29 regarded that it was not important to live in a democracy, and around 15% regarded that it would be good if Sweden was governed by a military dictatorship, while around 80% regarded that politicians have become detached from voters.
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