Younger citizens are generally considered to be less politically involved than others. For example, people of younger age are assumed to know far less about political affairs than elder citizens. This is usually explained by the existence of a “political life cycle”. Although several studies indicate that political socialisation already starts during early childhood, little do we know yet about political information levels among citizens below the age of 18. In the German case, the vast majority of previous research in this field was restricted to adult citizens. Other studies only considered pre-adults. Opponents of lowering the voting age generally claim that younger teenagers lack sufficient political knowledge. But do younger citizens really know less than adults? Since previous studies did not test both groups simultaneously, direct empiric evidence is scarce. Fortunately representative German survey data from 2008/2009 including a wider range of knowledge items will allow to compare information levels of 14-17 year olds with their fellow older citizens. Are the former really less aware of the political world? Or does it actually matter which domain (institutions, actors, policies) is examined? The use of multivariate models will account for the influence of further relevant determinants of knowledge (e.g. general cognitive abilities, political interest, media usage) and therefore allow appropriate judgements of genuine age-effects on individual information levels. As a result, this paper wants to provide empiric data for the on-going discussion on reducing the voting age.
