Less than a week from the first round, it was time! The presidential campaign is starting to take hold among young people, according to our barometer #MoiJeune2022OpinionWay-20 minutes–West France-Journaux de Loire*, published this Wednesday. More than two thirds of 18-30 year olds (67%) now say they are interested in the debates between Emmanuel Macron, Marine Le Pen, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and their competitors in the race for the Elysée. This is five points more than in the previous wave, published in early March. Better still, nearly a quarter of young people (23%) say they are “very interested”, up three points in one month.
However, a certain disparity should be noted within the different age groups, the youngest (18-22 years old) being much more interested in the campaign than the oldest (28-30 years old): 67% against 61%. “There are big issues, notes Thibault, 22, a student met in the center of Paris. The climate, precariousness, sexist and sexual violence, poor housing… All of this must be taken care of now! Laura, 29, is more reserved: “It’s just bickering and ego wars. I watched a debate, the candidates were yelling at each other and insulting each other. So I stopped. »
Optimism wins
More interested in the campaign and therefore more attentive to the various programmes, 18-30 year olds are more likely to find themselves in the projects carried out by the candidates. 64% of young people consider that their ideas are represented by a candidate, which corresponds to an increase of seven points compared to March, and ten points since January. And, here again, the youngest are the most optimistic, since 71% of 18-22 year olds say that their ideas are represented by a candidate. This is the case of David, 20, for whom “security issues are essential”, and who is “tired of seeing the middle class treated like shit”.
This renewed optimism among young people also affects the feeling that their personal situation will improve if their favorite candidate wins. This feeling concerns 57% of 18-30 year olds (+6 points in one month), and even 67% of 18-22 year olds, which represents an increase of ten points for this age group in one month.
And we find this increase of ten points in the intention of 18-30 year olds to go to the polling stations on Sunday, which stands at 58%. Good news ? Yes, because it is the first time since January that more than half of twenty-somethings plan to slip a ballot into the ballot box. But this proposal is still much lower than the intention to vote among all voters, which stands at 66% **, a figure already very low, since it implies an abstention of more than 30% , which would be a record for a presidential election.
Vote by default
And when we look in detail, only 49% of 18-22 year olds intend to vote, against 61% of 28-30 year olds. The most pessimistic with regard to this campaign are therefore those who intend to move the most on Sunday. If we have already explained why the youngest vote little, part of the explanation for the oldest is given by the MoiJeune*** community. To the question “In what state of mind are you going to vote?” “, 53% of 23-27 year olds and 41% of 28-30 year olds answer “out of duty”. 26% of 28-30 year olds and 16% of 23-27 year olds add “by default”. A sentiment widely shared by the young people met by 20 minutes in Paris. Nicolas (25 years old), Inès (25 years old), Nathan (23 years old) or Marie (24 years old), all have the same sentence: “I will vote out of spite”. A vote, yes, but without conviction.
* Barometer #MeYoung 2022 OpinionWay – 20 Minutes – West France – Journaux de Loire carried out from March 28 to 1 on a sample of 1148 people representative of the French population aged 18 to 30 according to the quota method.
** OpinionWay-Kéa Partners barometer of April 4, 2022
*** Study #MeYoung 20 minutes – OpinionWay, carried out online from March 28 and 29 on a sample of 490 people representative of the French population aged 18 to 30 according to the quota method.