Health a huge factor in voting trends

PEOPLE unhappy with the health service are less likely to vote if they are healthy, new research shows.

Health issues are an integral part of the political agenda in Ireland but, up to now, no study has looked at the impact of health concerns on political outcomes.

Researchers at University College Dublin’s Geary institute found being unwell and unhappy with the health service motivated people to cast their vote.

But those who were in poor health but happy with the health service were less likely to make the effort involved in exercising their franchise.

The researchers said they were surprised by the finding that healthy individuals who were unhappy with the health service were less likely to vote.

“It would appear that some voters are sufficiently disillusioned with the health service as to discourage them from voting,” said Dr Kevin Denny, one of the two researchers involved.

And the research suggested that when people were healthy the state of the health service was of less concern to them. They found that for a person who is both ill and unhappy with the health service the probability of voting dropped by 7%.

But for those in poor health but happy with the health service the probability of voting was reduced by 14%.

Another surprise finding was that poor mental health does not lead to a reduction in voter turnout. This runs contrary to a study carried out in Britain. The researchers said a real challenge would be to encourage those in poor health to vote.

“A political party which succeeds in attracting the unhealthy non-voters into the electorate could help to minimise the inequality,” the researchers pointed out.

The researchers analysed data from the European social survey collected in 2004 and 2005 that looked at the response rate of over 2,000 individuals over 15 and whether they voted in the last general election in 2002. They found that the more educated people were the more likely they would vote, with the probability increasing by 1% each year.

And trade union members and those placing themselves on the right of the ideological scale were more likely to vote. It also found that voting increased with age and then declined as the person got very old.

Head of UCD’s school of public health and population science Professor Cecily Kelleher said there was already evidence in other countries to show a relationship between health and voting patterns but, up to now, was not available in Ireland.

In a separate paper, Professor Eamon O’Shea, director of the new Irish centre for social gerontology based in NUI Galway, said the development of a new national strategy for older people in Ireland was long overdue.

Prof O’Shea said older people had the capacity to contribute far more than they were currently allowed in relation to work, volunteering, wisdom and culture.