Taiwanese Youth Voting for Taiwan: Studying Identity Formation in Taiwanese Youth and its Impact on Voting Patterns in Taiwan

In 2022, opinion polls conducted in Taiwan suggested that between 60 to 80% of people considered themselves to be ‘Taiwanese’; a stark contrast from almost a decade ago when around half the population still said they considered themselves to be ‘Chinese’ (Election Study Center, 2022; Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation, 2022). This shift in identity is most prominently seen amongst the Taiwanese youth, many of whom are rejecting Beijing’s messaging of a unified Chinese identity (Fifield, 2019). The evolution in identity for the youth of Taiwan could be said to have had an impact on Taiwanese politics, as it has affected the polls in Taiwanese election, with the DPP seemingly riding the wave of Taiwanese nationalism amongst the youth to victory in the 2020 Presidential Elections. This paper aims to delve deeper into this phenomena by studying identity formation in Taiwanese youth and asking two key questions: firstly, what are the factors that influence the formation of the identity of Taiwanese youth, and secondly, what role does this increasing sense of Taiwanese nationalism play in influencing the voting patterns of Taiwanese youth at the national elections.