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Is it a good time to become Prime Minister?

09th - 16th September 2022

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4 images showing the contents for the rest of the webpage. The first image is a pie chart referencing our overall weekly results. The second image to the right is of a teenager in a thinking stance representing our pupil voice category. The next picture to the right is of a ballot box which is in reference to the sponsors who have responded to our vote. The final image on the far right is a gender icon to represent our further breakdown of the data into categories such as gender and region.

39053

Votes this week

13035

Primary votes

26018

Secondary and College votes

Word on the (Downing) Street

I suppose it depends on who you ask. But the backdrop of rising inflation, Brexit divided party and country presented a seriously difficult inbox for the incoming Prime Minister.*

With Liz Truss’s recent move to Prime Minister and following Boris Johnson’s resignation, our voters explored the role of PM and what it entails, particularly given the current political climate. They considered concerns such as the cost of living crisis, war, the aftermath of the pandemic and whether being the Prime Minister throughout this presented itself as more of an opportunity or burden.

*With the gift of hindsight, we now know that Liz Truss’ tenure was significant in that it precipitated further crises on top of the already stacked agenda.

Exit Polls

Doughnut chart showing the total vote breakdown for Primary age 5-7 and Primary age 7-11.

Primary

  • Our Primary pupils were the most likely of all our age groups to vote 'Yes' this week, with 5,314 feeling positively about having the role of Prime Minister right now.
  • However, the 'No' vote took the overall lead, with 59% of Primary aged pupils voting 'No'.
  • Just under half of the 5-7 age group said they would want to be Prime Minister right now but only 37.6% of the 7-11 age group thought it was a good time to be made PM.
Doughnut chart showing the total vote breakdown for Secondary and College voters.

Secondary and College

  • Secondary and College votes swung heavily towards 'No' this week, with many comments referencing the cost of living crisis as a factor.
  • Of 24,148 Secondary students, just 6,178 voted 'Yes' which amounted to 25.6% of the vote.
  • College students were the least likely to vote 'Yes', with an impressive 78.3% voting 'No'.

Reporting live from the polling station

Child sitting cross legged in a thinking posture.

Primary School

Hertfordshire

"I think it's a hard time to become prime minister because there is so much going on like the war in Ukraine, energy bills, climate change and so much more. Being prime minister must be hard if you need to think about all this stuff."

teenager standing up with their arms folded

Secondary school

Lancashire

"The country is not in a good state right now, it needs help. Energy bills are rising and the queen has just died so good leadership is needed/it’s a mouldable time."

teenager standing in a shrug pose

College

Berkshire

"Our tutor group thinks being in charge would be great - you could solve all the problems. School is more stressful than being Prime minister. Bring it on."

You spoke...they listened...

"The most striking element to this vote is that the younger the students, the more likely they are to think this is a good time - or even to be PM at all. This could be because the younger audiences hold more hope. Yes there are issues around the cost of living, the war in Europe and the climate crisis, but it's never too late to solve things. Perhaps these hopeful few believe that this is exactly the time to be Prime Minister. This is where a Prime Minister can make real difference to people's lives. Of course, the majority said that now isn't a good time, or that they wouldn't want to be PM at all. Over three quarters of the College voters said that it's not a good time. Perhaps the belief here is that there is just too much to do. An impossible task looming on the horizon. No changes by one individual - even the Prime Minister - can solve all the country's problems. It's not a happy position, but it's clearly one that is shared by the majority of voting students. I can only hope that this pessimism is wrong and our new PM can get down to work on the issues soon!"

Simple Politics

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Play

An interesting trend...

Chart displaying the gender breakdown for primary voters.

  • The male 'Yes' vote was higher than the female 'Yes' vote across all age groups this week.
  • In our Primary 7-11 age bracket, this only amounted to an extra 33 votes. However, among our Secondary school students there were 1,742 more 'Yes' votes in the male category.
chart displaying the gender breakdown for secondary and college voters.

  • Our highest 'No' vote came from the College diverse category, with 90.22%.

Votes collected as “Diverse” include students that identify as gender diverse, as well as students that wish not to disclose or were not able to specify their gender.

Constituencies who flocked to the ballots this week

Map of the West Midlands with the total votes in the middle.

Registered to vote? The West Midlands did!

The West Midlands had the highest number of votes this week with an impressive 5361.

  • 3626 of those votes were 'No', which amounted to 67.6% of the total vote.
  • 1735 students voted 'Yes'.
See last week's results