Indian Politics & Policy Volume 3, Number 1, Spring 2020 | Page 103

The Youth Vote in Lok Sabha Elections 2019
PMs saw a decline. In some states, Modi
was more popular among young voters,
such as Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand,
Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh,
and Karnataka. In these states, preference
for Modi as PM was much higher
among young voters as compared to
the state average. Interestingly, in two
Southern states, Telangana and Andhra
Pradesh, with strong regional parties,
Narendra Modi was the preferred PM
among young voters.
Data further shows that young
voters who voted for BJP were almost
four times more likely to state the prime
ministerial candidate as the most important
consideration while voting
compared to young Congress voters (33
percent vs. 8 percent). For BJP voters
from other age groups, the figure was 29
percent and for them, party was a much
more important consideration, where
two-fifths considered the party to be
important while voting. Among young
voters, the difference between party and
PM candidate as voting consideration
was only 3 percentage points, with the
former leading over the latter (Table 9).
Modi’s candidature as PM was another
strong factor that attracted voters to the
BJP. Overall, a quarter of the voters asserted
that in his absence, they would
have voted for parties other than the
BJP. This Modi factor was equally important
for both young and other voters,
as one in every three voters would
have voted for some other party had
Modi not been the PM candidate.
c. Support for Major Decisions
Taken by Central Government
Additionally, young voters, in comparison
to the other age groups, also seem
satisfied by various decisions of the
Modi government (Table 10). Two in
five young voters supported demonetization,
whereas among the other voters,
a little over one-third supported this
step. The air strike on a terrorist camp
inside Pakistan in the aftermath of the
terrorist attack on CRPF in Pulwama
gave a push to BJP’s campaign. The par-
Table 10: Support for Various Decisions of the Modi Government
Demonetization decision by the
government was a necessary decision
that benefitted people
Heard about India’s air strike on terrorist
training camps in Pakistan
Support Central government decision
to 10% reservation for economically
weaker sections
Youth
Voted for
Overall
BJP
Others
Voted for
Overall
BJP
39 61 36 58
85 42 75 40
68 43 65 43
Source: CSDS data unit
Note: All figures are in percentages
99