Family Matters: How Concerns About the Financial Wellbeing of Young Relatives Shape the Political Preferences of Older Adults

Abstract

In an era of intergenerational inequality and political polarisation, what might make older voters support greater government spending on the young? Building on literature concerning family-centric political preferences, we theorise that older voters support pro-youth policies and vote for pro-youth parties when they perceive younger relatives to be struggling financially, due to emotional bonds and shared risks. Using a large, original survey of British adults, we find that negative evaluations of the financial wellbeing of one’s younger relatives – which are linked to their objective economic assets – are associated with support and prioritisation of state investment in education, childcare and housing. They are also associated with opposition to the incumbent Conservatives, in a relationship mediated by assessments that this party represents young people badly. The implications are important for understanding how emotional connections, more than self-interest, sensitise voters to family-wide economic hardship, and help produce ‘family-centric’ economic voting.

Keywords: Welfare state preferences; age divides; children and families; economic voting; self-insurance; British politics, Age divides, Children and families, Economic voting, Self-insurance

JEL Classification: D70, D72, D64