IF this is true, AIBU to be gobsmacked?

[themental]

Popped up on my Facebook so for all I know, it could be fake news. BUT if it's not....

I feel shocked and kinda mildly sad about it.

And I know that's probably being unreasonable. Every vote is equal, and all ages have a say.

But... fuck me.

That the attitudes in the country are SO skewed depending on which side of fifty you fall on is worrying. The fact cons would have returned 0 seats in the youngest age bracket makes me wonder what incentive they have to lift a finger for them.

My son voted Conservative, he's 22 and training to become a teacher.

My 16 year old Niece voted Conservative

Er, no she didn't.

My son voted Conservative, he's 22 and training to become a teacher

Why on earth would he do that?

And why would you admit it?!! 🤔

There is clearly a generational issue which does need to be addressed but I’m not sure how. I don’t think The vote of a 20 year old is more valuable than that of an 80 year old but it is true the 20 year old is perhaps more likely to be affected by major decisions. I saw someone on Facebook genuinely suggesting capping voting age at 65 which is horrid but I do think there is a danger that inter generational discord will have ramifications for policy and society more broadly. Eg why should the young pay for adult social care (that baby boomers have failed to pay for) when the older generation have voted for Brexit which is more likely to shaft the young. It all starts to get a bit murky and challenging.

Suppose this is anonymous...

The thing is these young people do not remember the days of nationalisation and the immense misuse of public funds that went on . Every generation thinks they know it all .

So not letting young people vote is perfectly acceptable, but not letting elderly people vote makes you an ‘agist bigot’? Interesting.
Even though the theory would be exactly the same? I.e: Too young=can’t be trusted to make logical decision, too old = can’t be trusted to make logical decision.

Yes your voter no is recorded on your ballot paper, so could be traced back.

BUT the used voting registers are sealed and stored entirely separately from the ballot papers. These are also sealed and stored after counting. Neither can be opened without a Court order which would only be granted in cases such as fraud. Not for some opinion pollster.

Your vote is basically anonymous, unless there are serious legal reasons for an investigation.

@Seeline that isn't true, as I said up thread, liverpool had to contact 48 voters who had been given the wrong ballot paper. How do you suggest they identified them? I'm sure they didn't pop to court and get a quickie court order!

So not letting young people vote is perfectly acceptable, but not letting elderly people vote makes you an ‘agist bigot’? Interesting.

If you can't see the difference between letting 16 year olds vote and you wanting to bring in restrictions to over 70's because it is clear they vote differently to you shows your authoritarian streak.

Not a nice look for a so called progressive.

I'm 58 and voted Labour. How could they know this? Voting is anonymous.

@KamikazeIdiot

Votes are not anonymous. When the people at the polling station hand you your ballot paper they note its serial number against your name on the electoral register. Anyone's vote can be traced by the local authority. However, it takes months to collect the data of how each person on the register voted for this kind of analysis.

Fake news - they absolutely DO NOT do this - in fact they aren’t allowed to.

Specially, they do not trawl through the votes and match up the numbers to see how people voted - that’s illegal.

Also, if you want to restrict over 70's the vote, maybe you should restrict the working class as they largely voted for cons too?

lordashcroftpolls.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Q2.-Party-by-demogs-no-location-768x676.jpg

Okay so I did put a disclaimer that it could be fake news, but I knew the ballot papers were connected to your name on the sheet thing, so it didn't seem WILD to me that they scanned them all in after counting and let a computer do the magic to come up with those figures.

I realise now it's from 2018.

I never started this to try to point any fingers of blame (I didn't even vote labour, so I'm definitely not mumping and trying to suggest they could have won if only...) I just found it a little... sad I guess. That the shift is SO black and white depending on your age group.

Also, I personally wouldn't class people 30-49 as "young".

And I take issue with the "more division" angry comments. The "more division" comments are often only touted by people who get what they want. "We've got what we want so everyone needs to shut up now because division".

I think it is probably quite accurate.
The fact is that 'older' people are more likely to vote.
Lots of people don't vote, which I disagree with.
At the end of the day the vast majority of people vote for themselves.

My 16 year old Niece voted Conservative
Not legally under her own name and birthdate she didn't.

I dunno, I went to a very MC uni and lived in a bubble of Green/LibDem/Labour friends. Imagine my shock when they conducted an exit poll at uni and it came out overwhelmingly Conservative!

Can't remember who said it but this is totally true:
Giving somebody something will never make them happier than taking something away from somebody makes them resentful.
In other words those who are paying g for something are angrier than those who receive something are grateful.

I think the trends are probably correct, older people voting Tory and younger people voting Labour but I imagine the data is false.

It could possibly be formulated from opinion polls but not from the electoral data itself.

So why the disparity? The cynic in me says that younger people are typically driven more by ideology and the older generation by experience.

Well, yes, people hate losing something much more than they like gaining the same thing.

It's all in a book called "Thinking Fast and Slow".

So old people gave us Johnson as PM? This sounds like part of the ‘it wasn’t Jeremy’s fault’ desperate rearguard action.

Worrying how many people think voting is anonymous. Didn’t you follow the process when you booked in?

Fake news - they absolutely DO NOT do this - in fact they aren’t allowed to.

They do list your voter ID against the ballot slip number.