Intergenerational Voter Preference Survey -　Preliminary Results

We present results from a survey conducted in December 2011, in order to see if introduction of Demeny voting system will have the desired have effect of addressing gerentocracy. We have identified several facts from the survey that provides a positive answer to this question. We found that there is substantial difference of policy preference between voters with young children and those without, either because they have only older children or they have not children. When proxy votes (children’s votes) and their policy preferences are taken into account, the Demeny Voting Block ( voters with children + children)’s policy preferences of childrearing and education (employment is not as important) is different from non-Demeny Voting Block for whom pension and employment are priorities. However we found that party preference does not differ as starkly. This may be because the current electorate is already dominated by older voters, the all parties cater to them. Parties do not identify themselves with any policies in particular. This suggests that when Demeny voting system is introduced, party manifestos will be the first to change.

Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University

2012-02

English(eng)

technical report

VoR

37

CIS Discussion paper series

https://hdl.handle.net/10086/22250