Big issues not party politics will capture votes of Gen Y.

Following the recent and dramatic change of leadership in the federal government, speculation has already commenced as to whether the ALP under Kevin Rudd can capture the so-called "youth vote”. As the Whitlam Institute has found in its analysis of the previous four elections, capturing the imagination of young people at election time remains a potential deal-maker. This is an untapped demographic, a group of voters who could be, but are currently not, galvanised to participate in mainstream politics. As Eric Sidoti has suggested, because young voters represent about 30 per cent of the electorate, a shift in the vote of this age group could have a significant impact on an election, yet "as an electoral cohort comparatively little is known" about them. Three trends are discussed.