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Monitor Election and Social Research

My First European Election

A Representative Survey about Political Attitudes on Europe among First-Time-Voters

What do first-time voters in the European elections in June 2024 think about Europe? A representative survey shows that they think similarly to the population as a whole. Support for Germany's EU membership is similarly widespread among younger voters as in the overall population. However, younger people associate slightly less "peace" with the European Union and climate protection tends to be slightly more important to them than to all voters when it comes to the EU's political activities.

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With the lowering of the voting age to 16 in the next European elections seven cohorts will be called to the polls for the first time to elect new members of the European Parliament. A good reason to take a closer look at this group in a representative survey.
Selected results:

  • Approval of the European Union is very high among first-time voters, as it is among the population as a whole. 81 percent of young people between the ages of 16 and 22 consider Germany's EU membership to be a good thing, compared to 76 percent of the total population.
  • 75 percent of first-time voters assess Germany’s EU membership positively, while only 53 percent of the population as a whole hold this view.
  • Younger people associate the EU primarily with security and prosperity, while the total population tends to associate it with peace and security. In addition, younger people associate the EU more often with being stronger in the world (58%) compared to the population as a whole (37%).
  • There is a strong desire for an active EU climate policy, with younger voters in particular expecting a strong or very strong commitment from the EU. In other political areas such as the economy, defense and migration, younger voters are somewhat more reserved than the population as a whole.

These and other detailed findings can be found in the full study "Meine 1. Europawahl” here as PDF.
Please note, to date the study is only available in German.

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Contact

Dr. Jochen Roose

Dr

Electoral and Social Research

jochen.roose@kas.de +49 30 26996-3798

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About this series

The publications of the Election and Social Research Monitor are part of our Monitor publication series. The Monitor series deals with one main topic at a time from the perspective of KAS experts and places it in the political and social context on the basis of a few key points.