Is a Gen-Z Voter Base the Reason for Sinn Féin’s Election Success?
The current youngest eligible voters in Northern Ireland were born in 2006, eight years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. The most recent assembly election in Northern Ireland was held in 2022 and Sinn Fein were voted as the most popular party, holding 29% of the vote (BBC,2022) compared to 27.9% of the vote in 2017 (Electoral Office for Northern Ireland, 2017). One can question whether the Gen-Z voter base is the reason for the Sinn Fein majority and whether this is due to Sinn Fein’s 2022 manifesto?
According to the Annie E Casey Foundation (2021) the issues Gen-Z cares about the most are healthcare, mental health, economic stability, higher education and the environment, this study was not taken based on the opinions of Northern Irish youth however it provides insight into global issues that impact Gen-Z, in the context of Northern Ireland, according to (Browne and Dwyer, 2014) the biggest issues that youth in Northern Ireland face are poverty, education, health and exposure to dangerous environments, evidently the issues faced and cared about by Gen-Z are consistent regardless of where in the world they are located. In order to know if Sinn Fein’s policy is what is driving their votes, their 2022 manifesto must be studied, Sinn Fein promised to help tackle the cost of living crisis by allocating a sum of money to every household and freezing public transport fares which massively serves the interests of the average person in Northern Ireland especially since according to the UK Parliament’s Youth Select Committee (2024) young people are ‘disproportionately affected by the cost of living crisis” as young people spend more on necessities than adults’. Sinn Fein also promised to increase the health budget by £1 billion in order to cut waiting lists short and improve mental health support in Northern Ireland which again, appeals to younger voters as one in eight young people in Northern Ireland experience emotional or mental health issues (Health and Social Care, 2020). Sinn Fein furthermore promised to utilise dual access to both the European Union and British markets due to Northern Ireland’s special position regarding Brexit which would arguably improve the country’s economic position, which could appeal to young voters due to their fear of economic instability. Beyond their promises in the 2022 assembly election manifesto, Sinn Fein can easily count on votes from the younger electorate due to their stance on a united Ireland, which has been the party’s basis since it began, according to DeSouza (2023), 57% of 18 to 24 year olds would vote in favour of Irish reunification, which again benefits Sinn Fein as this is something younger people in Northern Ireland evidently care about.
One must question why Sinn Fein has become so popular in comparison to the likes of the less hard-line Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP). The SDLP was formerly the biggest Nationalist party in Northern Ireland but have consistently lost votes in recent years. In their 2022 manifesto, the SDLP promised to help tackle cost of living, reduce waiting lists for healthcare and invest in pre-school childcare. The SDLP does mention some issues which are extremely relevant to Gen-Z voters, however the party has struggled due to its position on matters such as abortion which it offers a conscience vote on, allowing MLAs to vote based off their own opinions rather than by what the party believes, this creates issues for many liberal voters, which younger voters tend to be due to a lack of firm position creating disconnect between voters and the party itself. According to the BBC (2023), a lot of younger people care more about socialist issues than simply just the border which are issues Sinn Fein can be seen as attempting to resolve alongside the border issue rather than focusing on one or the other which can arguably be seen in the case of the SDLP. The SDLP has also regularly been seen as a party for ‘Catholic middle-class middle-aged men’ (DeSouza, 2023) which does not help it to gain votes amongst younger voters.
To conclude, Sinn Fein has maintained its voter base through continuing its original aim of establishing a united Ireland while also creating policies and manifestos which appeal to the liberal interests of younger voters such as a serious focus on cost of living, money for mental health support, support for abortion and its aim to enrich and empower the Northern Irish economy in its post- Brexit form.
Bibliography
BBC News (2022). NI election results 2022: Sinn Féin wins most seats in historic election. BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-61355419
Browne, B. and Dwyer, C. (2014). Navigating Risk: Understanding the Impact of the Conflict on Children and Young People in Northern Ireland. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 37(9), pp.792–805. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610x.2014.931213
Buckler, C. and Mckeown, L.-A. (2023). Northern Ireland politics: What’s important for young republicans? BBC News. 7 Nov. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-67308756 [Accessed 25/03/24]
DeSouza, E. (2023). ‘Why would we want to be part of the UK?’ Young people will probably soon deliver a united Ireland. The Guardian. 25 Oct. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/25/uk-young-people-united-ireland-stormont-brexit
DeSouza, E. (2023). Is Northern Ireland’s SDLP Here to Stay? Byline Times. Available at: https://bylinetimes.com/2023/03/27/is-northern-irelands-sdlp-here-to-stay/ [Accessed 25/03/24]
Electoral Office for Northern Ireland (2017). The Electoral Office of Northern Ireland – EONI. [online] www.eoni.org.uk. Available at: https://www.eoni.org.uk/Elections/Election-results-and-statistics/Election-results-and-statistics-2003-onwards/Elections-2017 [Accessed 25/03/24]
Health and Social Care (2024). Youth Wellbeing Prevalence Survey 2020 – DOH/HSCNI Strategic Planning and Performance Group (SPPG). DOH/HSCNI Strategic Planning and Performance Group (SPPG). Available at: https://online.hscni.net/our-work/social-care-and-children/children-and-young-people/youth-wellbeing-prevalence-survey-2020/#:~:text=1%20in%208%20children%20and.
Sinn Fein (2022) SINN FÉIN MANIFESTO. Available at: https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/politics/docs/sf/sf_2022-05-25_nia-man.pdf.
Social Democratic Labour Party (2022). 2022 Manifesto. cain.ulster.ac.uk. Available at: https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/politics/docs/sdlp/sdlp_2022-04-27_nia-man.pdf.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation (2021). Social issues that matter to generation z.The Annie E. Casey Foundation. Available at: https://www.aecf.org/blog/generation-z-social-issues.
Youth Select Committee (2024). The impact of the cost of living crisis on young people. UK Parliament. Available at: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5804/cmselect/cmyouth/cost-living-crisis-young-people/report.html#:~:text=Vicki%20Jones%2C%20Head%20of%20Policy,more%20on%20necessities%20than%20adults
This post starts off well by outlining exactly how young these voters are, the fact that the youngest voters were born in 2006 and that is was 8 years after the signing of the Good Friday agreement. This blog then outlines many of the ideas which Sinn Fein fight for that may gain the support of these younger voters with things such as the cost of living being at the forefront of their manifesto. This blog then gives a great comparison of Sinn Fein to the SDLP and discusses why Sinn Fein may be more popular to younger voters due to their stance on things such as abortion. Overall a good post, some detail on the work Sinn Fein do to engage with young people directly may have potentially furthered this article.