"Representation gap"

Young people: Little trust in political institutions

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

Democracy? Yes! Does it work in this country? In a nutshell, this is the result of a supplementary survey of young people in Austria for the "Democracy Monitor 2024", which was conducted by the social research institute Foresight on behalf of the parliament with a focus on young people.

Specifically, around 90 percent of young people in Austria consider democracy to be the best form of government. However, only 44% still think that the domestic political system works well. In 2018, it was still 69%.

This means that only around a third of 16 to 26-year-olds feel well represented in parliament. Less than a quarter currently feel that their interests are taken into account in political decisions. In 2018, both figures were still around twice as high, Parliamentary Correspondence reported on Friday.

Young people are losing more and more trust
According to the study, these figures show a "representation gap" perceived by young people that has opened up in recent years. This is linked to a gradual loss of trust in political institutions.

Reasons for the loss of trust

• For the youth spokespersons of the parliamentary parties, this is due to the crisis-ridden developments of recent years and the associated uncertainty.
• However, the specific actions of politicians and the neglect of the needs of young people have also led to this mistrust.

For the supplementary study, 303 people aged between 16 and 26 who live in Austria were surveyed between October 25 and November 22, 2024. In addition to their attitudes towards democracy and its institutions, the study also looked at how young people come into contact with democracy and parliament and how they find out about political issues.

Parties identify reasons for loss of trust
With regard to the political developments of recent years, FPÖ MP Maximilian Weinzierl expressed little surprise at the loss of trust young people have in political institutions. He blamed the outgoing federal government and its actions in the areas of migration, the fight against the pandemic and inflation.

Heike Eder (ÖVP) explained the declining trust with the past and present crises and the resulting uncertainty among young people.

In addition to the global crises, Paul Stich (SPÖ) identified a lack of credibility on the part of politicians as the cause of young people's skepticism. Broken promises, but also a lack of measures to ensure affordable housing or promote mental health, for example, reinforced the impression that the needs of young people were not being taken seriously.

Yannick Shetty from NEOS also saw the specific behavior of politicians as a decisive factor.

If they denied the existence of the "climate crisis" and thus robbed young people of "a piece of the future", we should not be surprised at the mistrust of young people, explained Barbara Neßler (Greens).