Promotion of a referendum to lower the voting age to 18 should be stepped up, as polls show that if the vote were to take place today, it would fail by at least 2 million votes, voter rights groups said yesterday.
The referendum is to be held alongside the nine-in-one elections on Nov. 26, the first time a referendum is to decide whether the Constitution will be amended.
A poll commissioned by the groups showed that only 39.5 percent of respondents supported the issue and plan to vote in November, which would mean that the referendum would fall 10.5 percentage points short — or 2 million votes — of the 50 percent threshold to pass, Forward Alliance founder Enoch Wu (吳怡農) said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The poll showed that 53.3 percent of respondents were unaware that the referendum would be held alongside the nine-in-one elections, Wu said.
More than half of the respondents in the 20-to-29, 30-to-39 and 70-plus age brackets support lowering the voting age, while the majority in the 40-49 and 50-59 age brackets did not support the initiative, Wu said.
Support in the special municipalities was highest in Tainan and lowest in Taichung, he said.
Wu said that 92.5 percent of respondents who identified with the Taiwan Statebuilding Party backed lowering the voting age, with thise supporting the Democratic Progressive Party the second-largest block at 73.6 percent.
The poll showed that 47.9 percent of respondents who support the New Power Party backed a yes vote, with 37.6 percent against, the Taiwan People’s Party had 40.4 percent in favor and 54.5 percent against, while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) had 29.8 percent in support and 62.4 percent against, he said.
Allowing 18-year-olds to vote is not only an issue of keeping up with global trends, but also an issue of justice and fairness, as those aged 18 to 19 have the obligations of citizenship, but not its rights, Wu said.
Men aged 18 must perform mandatory military service, but cannot vote, he said.
If parties want to support the referendum, they should inform their supporters about the details of the vote, Wu said.
Taiwan Youth Association for Democracy president Chang Yu-meng (張育萌) said that groups volunteering to promote the referendum have found that many older people are not aware that it is happening.
The Central Election Commission and parties should step up their efforts to make sure people know about the referendum, Chang said.
Focus Survey Research conducted the poll from Aug. 11 to 13 via telephone interviews and targeted people aged 20 or older. It garnered 1,519 valid responses at a confidence level of 95 percent and has a margin of error of 2.51 percentage points.
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