ABSTRACT
Any transformative shift in the demographics of a country demands consideration of not if this will lead to changes in the conduct of politics, particularly electoral politics, but how things will change. To grasp the consequences of population ageing we need to understand the political attitudes and behaviours of older voters. The net impact of these traits will be increasingly magnified with the transition from being a marginalised minority to a powerful near-majority, or indeed majority of voters, in large numbers of Westminster seats. In electoral terms there needs to be consideration of the relationship between the voters’ chronological age and their behaviour, but also how cohorts are influenced by being born at a particular time in history and how important events and social trends impact upon them. In recent times much of the debate around age and politics has centred on the wide differences in the participation rates between younger and older people, not least the growing gap in turnout rates. These issues will be examined in the next chapters alongside a consideration of how the behaviours and strategies followed by major political parties may adjust to the changing age composition of the electorate. It should be borne in mind this is a period where much interest has been generated by the incorporation of many marketing and management techniques into political strategies and organisation, crucial among these has been the ever more refined targeting of key voter groups.
