Turnout at the 2024 general election was just 60% – one of the lowest in modern history. This is not an isolated phenomenon: there was a decline in turnout for the 2024 local elections, and the byelections held during the 2019-2024 parliament had the lowest recorded average turnout since 1945.
Given the critical role that elections play in democratic societies and how turnout affects the legitimacy of a government, it’s important to understand why citizens choose not to vote. New evidence suggests that these low levels of participation can be explained by the rise of undecided voters. In a system that offers more parties to choose from than ever but is also characterised by voters’ weakened attachment to political parties, the result seems to be people staying home on election day.
Voter indecision has grown in many western democracies over the past 50 years. In the UK, polling data from February and March 2024 showed that roughly 17% of voters were undecided and 45% of those who had decided said they might change their mind before polling day. In a YouGov poll reported as late as two days before the July 4 election, 12% of voters said they had not made up their minds.
