National survey data showing that AUR is now the preferred party of young people. What voting intention do PSD, PNL and USR have in the parliamentary elections

George Simion’s party ranks first with 16% in the preferences of young people between 18 and 35 years old, for the parliamentary elections. USR and PNL follow, tied, with 14%, PSD 12% and SOS Romania, led by Diana Șoșoacă, with 5%. These are the total figures. If we refer only to those who say they will vote, AUR would have been voted by 23% of the young people who express their intention to vote.

The complete data of the survey, commissioned by the non-partisan organization Tinerii Voteaza, are presented to the public on Wednesday, from 3:00 p.m., at the Parliament, in the presence of several deputies, diplomats, representatives of the academic environment, pupils and students.

The data are from March 2023. The research was carried out by telephone by the Cluj IRES institute, at the national level, on a sample of 800 people aged 18-35. The margin of error is +/- 3.5%.

The young people’s voting intention, declared by them, is double compared to 4 years ago

The figures show that more than half of the young people surveyed say they will “definitely” go to each of the four rounds of elections, and a quarter of the respondents will “most likely” vote.

The presidential elections would have the highest turnout, with 63% of young people saying they will definitely vote, while 24% will vote “most likely”. In the European and parliamentary elections, the two categories add up to 83%, and in local elections – 89%, IRES figures show.

In the elections for the Parliament in December 2020, only 25% of the young people on the electoral lists voted, the lowest turnout in the last 4 years, data from the Central Electoral Bureau showed. In the previous European parliamentary elections, from May 2019, 43.2% of young people aged between 18 and 34 went to vote, according to the figures of the Romanian Youth Council, taken over by HotNews.ro.

VOTING ATTENDANCE CHART

At the European Parliament, the PSD-PNL Coalition is in first place in the preferences of young people

For the European parliamentary elections, the polling institute measured the PSD-PNL Alliance as a coalition, while in the parliamentary elections the two parties are measured separately.

Thus, in the European Parliament, the PSD-PNL alliance takes first place, with 18% voting intention. In second place is AUR, with 15%, followed by the United Right Alliance, which would gather 14% of the young people’s votes. The fourth place in the ranking is disputed by the SOS Romania party, led by Diana Şoşoacă, and by the REPER party, led by Dacian Cioloş, both gathering 3% of the young people’s votes.

However, the highest percentage is of undecided young people, representing 23% of all responses.

EUROPARLIAMENTARY CHART

In the parliamentary elections, AUR leads, while PSD and PNL were measured separately

The Alliance for the Union of Romanians dominates the ranking regarding the intention to vote in the parliamentary elections, where PSD and PNL are measured separately. Thus, 16% of the young people surveyed said they would choose AUR, with USR and PNL in second place in their preferences, equal to 14%. PSD would gather 12% of the youth vote. In fourth place is the SOS Romania party, with a score of 5%.

The share of undecided young people is lower than in the European Parliament elections, 12% of young people saying that they have not yet decided who to put their stamp on.

PARLIAMENTARY CHART

Daniel David: “Demonizing young people is a big mistake”

The IRES research generated reactions both from the political environment and from civil society. “As long as AUR is an accepted party in Romanian democracy, we must also accept the fact that there can be people, even young people, even with schooling, who find themselves in their message. To demonize is a big mistake”, said Daniel David, rector of Babeş-Bolyai University, in an interview with HotNews.ro.

The portrait of the young voter of the party led by George Simion was also outlined by sociologists and university professors from Romania.

The leaders of the political parties also reacted after the appearance of the first data of the national survey. The TikTok platform must be regulated urgently, even in the 2024 election year, because it has become a platform on which extremist messages are distributed, with popularity among young people, argued Lucian Romașcanu (PSD) and Rareș Bogdan (PNL).

“I think that those from AUR have won a young electorate thanks to the way they communicate”, declared USR vice-president Ionuţ Moşteanu, and George Simion said that “young people are fed up with USR”.