Channelling Political Disaffection in Youth: A Mixed Methods Approach to Understanding Young People’s Attitudes Towards Voting in Jersey

This working paper uses the Crown Dependency of Jersey as a case study to investigate young people's attitudes towards voting. Drawing on assemblage theory as a conceptual lens, we examine how interrelated aspects of young people's voting experiences shape engagement. Assemblage mapping is used to synthesise insights from focus groups with participants aged 18 to 24, identifying diverse yet related dimensions, including voting awareness, political exposure, social influence, social media dynamics, and confidence in the act of voting. Confirmatory Factor Analysis is then used to empirically validate these dimensions, operationalised as latent categories. We examine the sequence of awareness-building, political exposure, and social mediation using structural equation modelling, revealing how different configurations of these factors influence young people's perceptions of the importance of voting and their sense of confidence. Our findings show that pathways in which political exposure precedes awareness differ markedly from those in which awareness develops without sufficient exposure or social support. We further show that social media engagement plays a key role, either encouraging or limiting participation depending on how it is positioned within the structural model. Our work highlights that low youth turnout reflects a complex disconnection influenced by both personal relationships and institutional factors, with implications for interventions designed to foster meaningful engagement among young voters.