If you’ve been on social media in the aftermath of the General Election result, it’s likely you’ll have spotted the statistic that voter turnout among young people was 72%.
72% turnout amongst young people is incredible ?? #welldoneguys
— em (@yatess_emily) June 9, 2017
A 72% turnout for the 18-25 demographic is an amazing result. Getting young people into politics is what this country has needed for years
— Mark (@ShentonXLVII) June 9, 2017
The stat is being widely circulated on Twitter, reported in some of the media and repeated by re-elected Labour MP David Lammy.
72% turnout for 18-25 year olds. Big up yourselves ???? #GE2017
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) June 9, 2017
But the thing is – it’s impossible to know how big or small the turnout among young people was because no data is collected on age groups.
Ignore all claims about the level of turnout among particular age groups. There is no data for this. #GE2017
— Ian Jones (@ian_a_jones) June 9, 2017
Nice as they may sound, be sceptical of those youth turnout figures. There's no reliable measure of them available at this stage #ge2017
— Stephen Jones (@SteveJonesPA) June 9, 2017
The general turnout figure won’t be known for a few weeks either, according to pollster Ipsos Mori.
No – we produce it after each election later but it takes a week or so to produce detail – it is up overall to c69%
— Ben Page, Ipsos MORI (@benatipsosmori) June 9, 2017
So perhaps another lesson in thinking before you tweet/retweet.
