Encouraging voter engagement through co-created targeted outreach programmes and co-developing an island-wide curriculum framework in the context of Jersey
This research project set within the sub-discipline of political marketing aims to co-develop targeted strategies and programmes to strengthen voter-democratic engagement in the context of the Crown Dependency of Jersey, which has the lowest turnout in General Elections than in all OECD countries.
Duration: January 2025 to July 2025
Funder:
Research England’s Quality-related Research Policy Support Funding
Key people:
- Dr Christopher Pich - Principal Investigator
- Dr Guja Armannsdottir - Senior Lecturer in Marketing – Nottingham Trent University
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
This research relates to the following SDGs
Research summary
The number of people engaging in the electoral process is an indicator of democratic health. However, voter disengagement, cynicism and widening disconnection between voters and electoral participation is on the rise and this trend is not restricted to one jurisdiction. In fact, voter engagement has been declining across the globe since the beginning of the 1990s and this growing trend raises many concerns among policymakers, researchers, and elected officials. For instance, if voter disengagement continues to rise, it poses direct threats to the integrity of electoral democracy, the stability and governance of states and empowers disruptive voices, ideologies, and messages. Therefore, research examining voter engagement, disengagement and re-engagement remains a priority issue and an under-developed and under-researched area of study for researchers, practitioners and policy makers.
One of the key strategies to strengthen voter engagement is the development and delivery of targeted outreach programmes in educational institutions. Targeted outreach programmes have the potential to provide voters with impartial support, guidance and education on the electoral process-system and the importance of civic engagement, voter engagement and citizenship. However, a recent report by the House of Lords (2023) entitled ‘The Ties that Bind: Citizenship and Civic Engagement in the 21st Century’ concluded that the “coordination of citizenship and civic engagement policy [in educational institutions across the UK] is insufficient” and the current provision of civic and voter engagement programmes needs to be overhauled. Therefore, the development of targeted civic and engagement outreach programmes requires attention especially as the new Labour Government launched a consultation on a new strategy for young people in the UK (November 2024) and intend to legislate lowering the voting age from 18 to 16 ahead of the next General Election.
The Crown Dependency of Jersey is one jurisdiction that has witnessed similar challenges to the UK, with inconsistent and limited civic and voter engagement programmes. Further, Jersey is responding to this identified problem and is in the process of co-developing targeted outreach programmes designed to strengthen civic and voter engagement programmes in educational institutions across the island. Since 2022, Dr Christopher Pich (University of Nottingham) has led a collaborative research project supported by the Government of Jersey which has resulted in an agenda to co-design, deliver, and appraise targeted educational programmes for different stakeholder groups in Jersey ahead of the island’s 2026 General Election. It is envisaged the co-designed targeted educational programmes will develop into an island-wide curriculum framework for policy makers, strategists, and industry specialists, which will strengthen voter engagement and reaffirm the importance of civic responsibility and citizenship. Finally, there is clear applicability and upscaling opportunities for the co-designed targeted outreach programmes and co-developed curriculum framework to contexts (local, regional, national, and international) beyond Jersey. This will go some way in addressing disengagement, cynicism and the widening disconnection between voters and electoral participation.
Research findings
Data collection is currently underway, and data collection will conclude July 2025. More specifically, this research project is divided into four distinct yet related phases. Phases one and two focus on conducting semi-structured interviews with educators, policymakers and industry specialists, and six focus group discussions with segmented voter groups to assess the current provision of voter engagement-outreach programmes in Jersey and identify envisaged strategies, and activities associated with strengthening voter engagement. Phase three focuses on working with project partners to co-design targeted educational-outreach programmes in Jersey. Phase four includes trialling-piloting the co-designed targeted educational-outreach programmes before the rollout and appraisal of the targeted educational-outreach programmes ahead of the Jersey’s 2026 General Election.
In summary, our initial findings reaffirm that targeted political education is a key driver to strengthen voter-democratic engagement. A range of engaging, inclusive, tailored and co-designed tactics are requirement as part of a consistent, island-wide, long-term strategy to strengthen voter-democratic engagement.
Further information
For more information please read Dr Christopher Pich's blog about voter engagement.
