Indian Politics & Policy Volume 3, Number 1, Spring 2020

Indian Politics & Policy Table 12: Majority of Late Deciders Voted for BJP All Youth Vote for Congress Vote for BJP Others Note: Figures in the parentheses refer to the total proportion of youth in that category. Last-minute deciders are those who either decided who to vote on the day of election or a day or two before elections. All Vote for Congress Vote for BJP Last-minute deciders (30) 31 19 39 29 18 39 Earlier, during the campaign (18) 18 19 40 18 17 33 Even before the campaign started (36) 34 21 44 36 21 41 After candidates were declared (12) 13 18 40 11 23 33 The campaign strategy that a party adopts is very beneficial for the voters in order to help them decide whom to vote for, especially if they are last-minute deciders. What is also interesting is that one in every three young voters was late minute decider during this election (31 percent) and among other voters, the figure was 29 percent. In 2014, close to half of the young respondents said that they had made up their mind of whom to vote for even before the campaign started, but in this election, this figure dropped by 13 percentage points; this is where campaign strategy can help a party. For both 2014 and 2019 elections, the figures were more or less similar for young and other voters as well. The BJP was more successful in attracting young voters to the party using campaign strategies. This can be ascertained from the fact that of those who said that they made up their mind whom to vote for during the campaign, a higher proportion of young voters were found to have voted for the BJP than voters from other age group, with a difference of 7 percentage points. Candidates of the parties also impacted young voters, as data indicate that of those who made up their mind after the parties declared their candidate, young voters voted more for the BJP than adult voters did (Table 12). e. Concerning Issues While Voting For the youth, the single most important voting issue in 2019 Lok Sabha elections was unemployment. One in every five young voters considered this to be an election issue, whereas among adult voters, only one in every ten considered unemployment to be an electoral issue. For adult voters, development was the biggest issue; nonetheless, the same proportion of young voters stated that development was the most important election issue. In a separate question, 63 percent of young voters stated that the problem of joblessness was very serious (Tables 13 and 14). However, the job crisis issue did not prevent young voters from voting for the BJP and among the 19 percent who stated unemployment 102

Indian Politics & Policy Volume 3, Number 1, Spring 2020 | Page 106