If only young people aged 13-19 voted in the presidential election, Sławomir Mentzen and Adrian Zandberg would go to the second round – according to a simulation carried out among almost 200,000 students. The authors of the “Young Votes” program and experts indicate clear reasons why KO and PiS candidates for president are not popular among young people.
Key facts:
- Rafał Trzaskowski and Karol Nawrocki obtained only 20 percent support in the simulation of voting among young people.
- The authors indicate four reasons why young people choose Sławomir Mentzen and Adrian Zandberg.
- More about the presidential election in TVN24.pl election site
As part of the simulation, “young people vote” between 4 and 16 May, young people in 668 schools throughout Poland could “vote” for candidates and candidates who competed in this year's presidential election. “This means that nearly 200,000 students had the opportunity to face a similar decision as adult voters and express their views,” says the Citizens' Education Center (CEO) on the project website. The results of this simulated vote turned out to be significantly different from the results of the first round of presidential elections carried out on May 18.
See also: The results of the first round of presidential elections
Support among the youngest
Sławomir Mentzen from the Confederation won the most votes in the school simulation – 19.1 percent. The second result was obtained by the party's candidate Adrian Zandberg (17.4 percent), and the podium was closed by Rafał Trzaskowski (13.2 percent). Just behind the KO candidate, Joanna Senyszyn was placed, for which 12.6 percent voted. pupils and students. Magdalena Biejat from the left won 10.5 percent votes, Grzegorz Braun 9.2 percent, and the candidate PIS Karol Nawrocki only obtained the 7th result – 6.9 percent votes. Less than 5 percent The journalist Krzysztof Stanowski (4.5 percent), Polish leader Szymon Hołownia (3.1 percent), Maciej Maciak (1.7 percent), Marek Jakubiak (1 percent), Artur Bartoszewicz (0.5 percent) and Marek Woch (0.3 percent) obtained support
The Civic Education Center graphically combined the results of voting in this study with the real results obtained by candidates in the first round of presidential elections.
Source: Center for Citizenship Education
Young people behind Mentzen and Zandberg
The authors of the study also donated their own conclusions about the reasons for such different preferences among the youngest. The center pointed out that “Trzaskowski and Nawrocki, who entered the second round of real presidential elections, enjoyed a relatively low support among young people, jointly receiving only 20 % support” – i.e. three times less than in official elections.
According to the center, obtaining the largest number of votes by “extremely ideologically different” candidates indicates that “young people are not afraid to vote for candidates with unambiguous, expressive views – they are ready to support both highly left -wing parties and anti -system right, they are less likely to vote for parties that have been cards in politics for years.”
Why did Mentzen and Zandberg turn out to be the most attractive for young people? The CEO indicates four key reasons: the clarity and authenticity of their message, the rebellion of young against current policy and status quo, efficient campaigns of these two candidates on the Internet and hitting them into the moods and problems of the young generation.
“Although each from a different ideological side, Mentzen and Zandberg addressed their campaigns directly to teenagers and 20 -year -olds, regularly addressing them directly and emphasizing that politics should respond to their daily experiences” – we read on the website of the Civic Education Center.
Trzaskowski and Nawrocki outside the second round
Why do KO and PiS candidates enjoy such low support among students? CEO lists several possible reasons: Nawrocki may be less convincing because of the language referring to tradition and pathos, in addition, “PiS lost the trust of young people in eight years of rule, which rarely focused on the youngest voters.”
In turn, Trzaskowski also does not always manage to catch contact with the younger voter, and KO “after entering the government did not introduce the promised reforms (apartments, abortion, climate)” – indicates the CEO, writing about the unused credit of trust after the parliamentary election in 2023. In addition, it was noticed that both candidates who went to the second round of elections on May 18 adopted the tactics “not to discourage anyone”, i.e. they smoothed their message counting on a wide electorate in the second round. “Although it is necessary to achieve over 50 percent support in the second round, it does not encourage young people” who focus on authenticity and clarity, “emphasizes CEO.
The CEO also combined the results of voting in simulation for students with voting results on May 18 by voters aged 18-29. In this age group, voters also They most often voted for Sławomir Mentzen, which obtained 34.8 percent votes – results from polls. Adrian Zandberg (18.7 percent) came second, followed by Rafał Trzaskowski (13 %) and Karol Nawrocki (11.1 percent). Magdalena Biejat and Grzegorz Braun won 5.3 percent votes in this age group.
Source: Center for Citizenship Education
Why do young people choose extreme candidates?
After announcement results of the first round of presidential elections Attempts to explain the election preferences of young people were also undertaken by a psychiatr, psychotherapist and president of the Polish Society of Media Media Maja Herman. “Brauna and Menzena's high results are not a chance,” she wrote on portal X on Monday, adding: “They are a symptom. You have long seen that there is a large group of people who feel strangled. Cancel culture – at least in their opinion – says them all the time:” You can't say that, you can't, you can't be different, better, more conscious, more sensitive. ”
According to Herman, Mentzen and Braun, “they say everything that you 'silenced' would like to say, but they are afraid. They are afraid of Cancel Culture, that is – in their eyes – a new form of social censorship, which does not allow you to say anything 'ordinary', 'normal', 'traditional' so that they do not get a patch to not get somehow.”
Herman pointed out that “in the civilized world we do not behave like Braun. We do not tell you to give birth like Mentzen. And even those who vote for them, most likely they would not do it. But they choose them, because they feel that these two take off their muzzle of political, social and cultural correctness. At least in some area. At least in some area. She added.
“Young people have been voting” for 30 years
“Young people” is a nationwide educational initiative in which primary school students (from grades VI) and secondary school are preparing school elections, conduct profrening campaigns, appoint election committees, count votes and organize debates on topics important for them. Since 1995, over 3 million students voted in action.
In this year's edition in 668 schools entitled to vote were 190 290 students aged 13-19, and therefore, above all, people who only in the coming years will obtain the right to participate in real elections. In the simulation they gave 95,929 valid votes and 5389 invalid, i.e. the attendance was 53 percent.
The “Young Votes” campaign is to increase interest in politics among young people and shape civic habits. It is carried out by the Citizens' Education Center, a non -governmental organization operating in education and creating, among others Electoral lighthouse keeper.
Author/author: wac // mm
Source: PAP, tvn24.pl
Source of the main photo: Shutterstock