‘Young people don’t care about politics’ is a cliche that’s reverberated from election to election for years. As the build-up to the 2026 Scottish Parliament election begins, young people are ready to prove them wrong.
Nicola McEwen, the director of the Centre for Public Policy at the University of Glasgow, tells Surge: “Young people can play a huge role in influencing the outcome of the Holyrood election. The proportional representation system creates more opportunities for individual voters to make a difference.”
A decade ago, the Scottish government gave 16 and 17-year-olds the vote after unanimous backing from MSPs to encourage political participation from the young. And it’s worked.
According to a study by the University of Edinburgh investigating the long-term effects of voting at 16 in Scotland, young people are voting in higher turnouts as a result of the change in legislation.
Students spend their Saturdays marching down the Royal Mile. Teens post about social issues on their Instagram stories and discuss global news with their friends. Political participation among young people is all around us, albeit not always in a traditional way.
For instance, party membership is not something that looms large over the young electorate. Under-30s don’t have the same sense of party loyalty that older generations tend to have. The data speaks for itself, as the mean age of members of the main 5 parties in the UK ranges from 42 to 54.
Lydia, a 29-year-old office worker in Edinburgh, says that she would never join a political party because of how much they change under different leaders.
“I was a big fan of Jeremy Corbyn and Labour under his leadership, but I don’t agree with a lot of what Labour is doing at the moment. I would definitely never vote for Keir Starmer,” Lydia says.
The under-30s will play an unusually important role in the 2026 election
Fraser McMillan, a member of the Scottish Election Study team, says, “It’s fair to say the under-30s will play an unusually important role in the 2026 election. There’s a whole new group of voters now who don’t remember anything except SNP dominance.”
“We’re still working out how this post-millennial, post-IndyRef cohort of voters behaves at the ballot box,” McMillan adds.
Arguably, the young, most of whom aren’t tied down by mortgages and businesses, are free to engage in politics in the purest way, choosing to vote for and identify with parties and leaders who they believe will simply make the world better.
Alice, a 19-year-old student at the University of Edinburgh, says that her vote in 2026 will go to the party who shows they care about issues such as inequality and poverty.
“I think it’s such an important issue in the UK right now; it feels like those in government at the moment aren’t doing anywhere near enough,” she says.
Lily, a 24-year-old barista in the Old Town, says that Palestine is a defining issue for her.
“I will only vote for a party who will speak out against Israel,” Lily says. “I will probably vote for the Green Party; some people say that it’s a wasted vote, but I’d rather vote for people with integrity.”
In the lead with young voters, the Scottish Greens are expected to do well in this election. Fraser McMillan states, “Younger voters are by far the most likely to vote for the Scottish Greens. Looking at our most recent Scottish Election Study data from February, they’re the most popular party among 16-29-year-olds in Holyrood vote intention for the list ballot (26% versus the SNP at 23%).”
A Survation poll carried out in March predicted a strong lead for the SNP, with 34% of the sample group giving the party their vote. The other parties were trailing behind. Labour, Conservatives, and perhaps most surprisingly, Reform, were all within 11% of each other.
The poll also shows strong support for Reform across Scotland by 16-24-year-olds. The most recent election at Westminster showed a similar trend, with more young people voting for Reform than the Conservative Party. There is also a significant gender gap; for every young woman voting Reform, there are five men.
Nicola McEwen says, “Reform UK appears to be making inroads into the youth vote, especially among young men, in ways that right-wing parties have struggled to do in the past.”
Conversely, Fraser McMillan says that their own polling doesn’t show a significant number of young people supporting the Reform Party.
“In our sample, 16-29-year-olds are the least likely to vote for the party.” McMillan adds that a February survey undertaken by the Scottish Opinion Monitor shows that younger Scottish voters, on average, self-identify as furthest to the left.
But polls can only tell us so much. “I think sometimes people overgeneralise from trends; it’s not the case that under-30s are a homogenous bloc with the same views,” McMillan concludes.
It appears the parties most enticing to younger Scottish voters are Reform and the Green Party. At opposite ends of the political spectrum, they have little in common. Is this because they offer something different from the mainstream? The idea of something new and different can be alluring to young people who feel let down or unrepresented by the current political system.
Whilst none of the young people Surge spoke to said they would vote for Reform, it seems they have a quiet chorus of support growing in Scotland. This echoes voting trends that have led to a rise of far-right parties across the world. Will the story be the same for young Scottish voters next year?
Nicola McEwen concludes, “Registering to vote – and using your vote when the time comes – is key to having a voice that politicians will listen to.”
