Students Who Aren’t Voting Say They Don’t Know or Care Enough About Mayoral Election

A new poll of over 1,000 Ryerson student’s shows those who don’t plan to vote don’t care or know enough about the 2018 mayoral race. Ekram Labas and Nancy Pierre report.

 

Despite being a highly ranked university in regard to academics, most Ryerson students lack interest or knowledge on Toronto’s municipal elections.

Nearly half of Ryerson students who won’t be voting said they don’t know or care enough to vote, said a new poll conducted by second-year Ryerson School of Journalism students.

Second-year business management student Laura Mitri says she doesn’t think her vote would make an impact.

“Personally, I’m not voting because I’m just one insignificant person. I don’t think my vote is gonna matter,” she said.

251 out of the 558 of those who answered “no” when asked if they will be voting said they lacked interest and/or knowledge in the issues covered by the elections or in Toronto’s municipal politics in general.

Second-year journalism student Nour Al-Saied says she does not feel represented by the candidates, being a person of colour.

“As a person from the Middle-East, I feel like I’m not represented enough by the candidates. I feel like I have less opportunities, and because of that, I chose not to vote,” she said.

Out of 1081 responses, 492 students said they consider themselves less than “moderately knowledgeable” on Toronto’s municipal politics.

Second-year professional communication student Stephanie Sturino says she’s not informed enough to vote in Toronto’s mayoral election.

“I’m not voting in the upcoming election because I don’t really know the main issue being talked about, and I don’t have enough time or care enough to research in order to cast a meaningful vote,” she said.

However, only 20% of students answered “no” when asked if they will be voting.

Ryerson School of Journalism students conducted in-person surveys about Toronto election issues with 1,081 undergraduate and graduate Ryerson students in October prior to the municipal election.

The results are considered accurate to within plus or minus three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.