The Scottish Government

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Voting in Elections

33. The easiest and most common way in which people can become involved in the democratic process is by voting in elections. However, only 49% of Scots voted in the last Scottish Parliament election, fewer even than the 61% who voted in the 2005 UK general election or the 58% who did so in 2001. It would appear as though turnout could prove to be consistently lower in Scottish Parliament elections than it is in UK general elections, the very opposite of what the advocates of devolution would have hoped for if devolution were to increase people's engagement with the political process.

34. In this section we examine how important people think it is to vote in Scottish Parliament elections, and compare this with the perceived importance of voting in other kinds of elections. Asking how important it is to vote in a particular election can be expected to reflect two sets of feelings. The first is the degree to which people feel a duty to vote in elections in general. The second is whether they think the body being elected is important, either symbolically (for example as an expression of a country's nationhood) or substantively (for example because its decisions affect people's lives). Of course in an actual election other influences, such as the perceived differences between the parties or the closeness of the contest, may influence the level of turnout too (Bromley, 2006). Nevertheless, as we can see from Table 11, those who say that voting in a particular election is important are far more likely to do so in practice. In 2005 those in Scotland who said it was very important to vote in House of Commons elections were over eight times more likely to have voted than those who said it was not at all important to vote in such elections. Thus looking at how important people say it is to vote in different kinds of elections is likely to give us some useful clues as to who actually does so.

Table 11 Turnout in 2005 UK General Election by perceived importance of Commons elections, 2005

35. Only just under half feel that it is very important to vote in a Scottish Parliament election (see Table 12). Even so, this figure is only a little lower than the equivalent figure for House of Commons elections, while that for local elections is also much the same. All three sets of elections are regarded as far more important than European Parliament contests, in which only around a third think it is very important to vote. This suggests that it might still be possible for turnout in Scottish Parliament elections to approach that achieved in UK general elections if other conditions are conducive to a higher turnout.

Table 12 Perceived importance of voting in different kind of elections

36. Of course, the fact that the proportion that says it is important to vote in Scottish Parliament elections is much the same as it is for Westminster elections does not necessarily mean that the two groups consist of the same people. Although 78% gave the same response for both types of election, 9% assigned greater importance to voting in a Scottish Parliament election than they did to voting in a UK Commons contest, while 14% did the reverse. It is therefore possible that, at the margin at least, Scottish Parliament elections matter relatively more to some people than others.

37. Table 13 summarises for which groups of people Scottish Parliament elections matter significantly more or significantly less than elections to the House of Commons. For each group it shows a 'net importance' score; this is the proportion that assigns greater importance to voting in Scottish Parliament than in Commons elections minus the proportion assigning greater importance to voting in Commons than in Scottish Parliament elections . A positive figure indicates that, on balance, Scottish Parliament elections are regarded as more important than Commons elections; a negative figure indicates the opposite.

38. For the most part, there is little evidence that Scottish Parliament elections are either relatively successful or unsuccessful in engaging those who are usually less likely to vote in elections. However, it is the case that those who feel a strong sense of identity with a political party, a group that is usually more likely to vote in elections (Bromley and Curtice, 2002), are also relatively more likely to assign greater importance to voting in Scottish Parliament than in Commons elections. ⁸ This of course is the opposite of what we would anticipate if devolution were particularly effective at engaging those who are usually less involved in politics.

Table 13 Difference in perceived importance of voting in Scottish elections and Commons elections, by identity, trust and perceptions of Scottish Parliament building, 2005

Note: Positive net importance scores indicate that people are more likely to assign a high importance to voting in Scottish than in Commons elections; negative scores that the reverse is true.

39. In line with what we have come to expect from previous analyses in this report, those with more favourable attitudes towards the principle of Scotland having its own parliament are more inclined to think that Scottish Parliament elections are relatively important. Those who do not think that Scotland should have its own parliament are significantly more likely to think that Scottish Parliament elections are less important than UK Government elections. At the same time the perceived importance of Scottish Parliament elections is linked with perceptions of how well devolution has worked in practice. Scottish elections are particularly likely to be regarded as important by those who think the Scottish Parliament building will be worth it in the end as well as by those who trust the Scottish Executive more than they do the UK government.

40. What, however, also emerges from Table 13 is that those of a 'nationalist' disposition - with either a small or a capital 'n' - are particularly likely to regard voting in a Scottish election as relatively important. Both those who say they are best described as 'Scottish' rather than any other national identity and those who express an attachment to the SNP are particularly likely to regard it as important to vote in Scottish Parliament election. So also are those who say they favour independence. This would appear to suggest that some people feel that Scottish Parliament elections are particularly important because they regard the parliament and its elections as a symbol of their distinctive sense of nationhood.

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