In respect of voting participation, Plutzer (2002) and Franklin (2004) emphasise the significance of citizens’ outlook on entry to political adulthood. Their findings precipitated a renewed focus on pre-adult political learning. Simultaneously, there has been a debate over when political adulthood should be conferred. While the voting age has been lowered to 16 in Austria and Argentina; in other states, such as the Republic of Ireland (ROI), lowering the voting age to 17 is under consideration.
This paper considers the political outlook of adolescents nearing voting entitlement; i.e., ‘threshold voters’. While threshold voters are expected to be armed with attitudes commensurate to the political norms of a state, their political interaction with a political system is low by comparison with adult groups. The learning of political norms thereby rests in large part on socialisation in the home, school and wider social environs. The introduction of formal civic and political education in many advanced democracies has been framed as a compliment to socialisation, in order to advance the political knowledge and interest of adolescents.
In particular, the discussion will assess the relationship between political education and socialisation, and threshold voters’ political interest and political efficacy. Political interest and efficacy are considered as essential ‘resources’ for political participation (traditional and non-traditional). They are also identified as core outcomes of formal political education.
The paper’s analysis is based on a case study of ‘threshold voters’ in the ROI; involving a quantitative survey (n 850) of post-primary students (aged 15-17) in 2009. While civic and political education for early-adolescents was introduced in 1999, its expansion to late-adolescents (though sanctioned) has not occurred. An intense focus has been placed on the political capacity of threshold voters in Ireland as a Constitutional Convention currently considers a proposal to lower the voting age from 18 to 17.
