Who benefits from lowering the voting age to 16? Exploring stratification amongst young Scots

The Scottish independence referendum 2014 saw a reduction in the voting age to 16 which was widely regarded as successful and led to the permanent change of the voting age to this earlier level for Scottish Parliament elections. While several studies have demonstrated positive average effects of the early enfranchisement for the population of young Scots in terms of civic attitudes and political participation, few studies have looked at patterns of stratification within the group of the newly enfranchised. Using data from a survey conducted after the Scottish independence referendum and ahead of the 2015 General Elections in the UK, this paper will seek to explore whether the positive average effects are distributed equally across the population of young people in Scotland or whether certain groups, that normally are more likely to participate in different forms of civic engagement particularly benefited. The analysis provides important insights into the question of emerging political inequalities amongst young people and particularly asks whether early enfranchisement leads to an intensification or reduction in standard patterns of stratification in political participation.