My First European Election

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.