INSTEAD of politics, finding a good job and coping with rising living costs are first and foremost on young voters’ minds, observers say of a recent survey which showed a large number undecided voters in the 21 to 30 age bracket.

The finding by Institut Darul Ehsan (IDE) that voters in this age group were largely undecided on who to vote for is “normal” in developed countries and also a good indication of voting sentiments, Ilham Centre’s Mohamad Hisomuddin said.

“The political tendencies of young voters are not clear, unlike the older generation. Young voters are unpredictable to political parties.

“By and large, they don’t have much interest in politics because the exposure is not the same. They are not participating and they are not engaging in politics directly so their stance is more fragile.

“And if they conclude that politics is dirty, it will only move them further away from (being interested in) politics,” Hisomuddin, the executive director of Ilham Centre told The Malaysian Insight.

He was asked to comment on IDE’s “Malaysia: Mood of the Nation Survey” which was released on Monday.

The survey, conducted from August 11-15, revealed that only half of the 4,486 respondents had decided who they would voted for, while 22% said they would only decide after nomination, 9% a week before elections and the remaining 19% on election day.

Most voters aged 21 and 30 dominated the “undecided” category.

The survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews and covered 130 parliamentary seats in the peninsula.

“Young voters are no longer interested in politics and majority of them are not part of any political party. So the top issues on their priority list are matters like the rising cost of living and finding jobs, or the issue of unemployment,” Hisomuddin said.

Fence sitters, on the other hand, tend to be the most rational voters as they would evaluate all aspects before casting their vote, he added.

“Those who have already decided cannot be used as a gauge to determine the victor in an election because they are already supporters of parties.

“But fence sitters, including the young and first time voters are the ones that decide who will win,” he said.

Malaysia must hold national polls by August 2018 and there are some 3.8 million citizens, most of whom were 21 years old, who have yet to register as voters as of March 31, according to figures from the Election Commission (EC) revealed in Dewan Rakyat last month.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia associate professor Dr Faisal S. Hazis said it was usually older voters who had a stronger sense of party attachment.

“They have voted in several elections and they have established some sort of identification with certain parties.

“Younger voters have weaker party identification or some don’t even have any sense of it,” said the head of the Asian Studies Centre under UKM’s Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS).

It was not uncommon worldwide to find that the young voting bloc viewed politics as the least important matter in their lives.

“That’s why when you look at the number of unregistered voters, most of them are actually younger voters,” he said.

Malays eager to vote

The IDE survey also revealed that Malays were the most eager to participate in the 14th general election (GE14), followed by Indians (70%) and Chinese (60%).

Hisomuddin said these findings reflected the importance of politics to some segments of the Malay community.

“Past observations show that Malays like to engage in political discussion for almost 24 hours, while the Chinese get involved during the campaign period.

“The split in Malay-based political parties also helps increase the awareness (among the Malay community),” he said referring to newer parties like Bersatu and Amanah.

He said the eagerness to vote also depended on the locality, as political awareness among Malay voters in states like Kelantan, Kedah, Terengganu was higher than in other states.

“This is because they will discuss politics at coffee shops or have conversations about politics everyday. But those in states like Selangor or Johor are different, they are alert to current developments,” he said.

The survey also showed that more than 80% of respondents were not satisfied with the current political situation and with how democracy was practiced in Malaysia.

In the last general election, BN obtained 4.315 million votes or 46.2% of the popular vote while the opposition picked up 5.035 million votes or 53.5% of the popular vote. – August 30, 2017.