As the official manifesto booklet begins to hit doormats across the island, the political movement Future Guernsey is releasing research showing the factors which affect voting, with values (53%), track record in the States Assembly (52%), policies (51%), professional experience (51%) and track record in the community (51%) all coming out almost equal in importance.

Close behind on the list of things people rated as important when choosing their candidates was their manifesto (46%) and accessibility to the electorate (39%).

Age, appearance and local status not cited as factors in choosing candidates

Perhaps just as interesting as the factors which affect voter decisions are those which don’t, with just 15% saying they considered their personal connection to a candidate as being a factor as to whether they would vote for them. 1% said they would look for candidates who represented youth issues.

When asked if they would factor in a candidate’s age, appearance, views on LGBTQ+ issues or local status, the answer was a resounding ‘no’ among survey respondents. None chose these options - or the prioritisation of policies for women - as priorities which they would factor into their decisions on who to vote for.

Local media wins over manifesto booklet as a source of information for voters

As for where people would be getting information about who to vote for, when asked to choose their two main sources of information, local media came out on top, with almost half (46%) using printed or online news providers and 37% local radio. A fifth (20%) cited local TV. Nearly a quarter (23%) named the manifesto booklet as one of the two main sources they would use to help them decide who to vote for.

Word of mouth was an important factor, especially among women, one in five (20%) of whom said it would help inform their voting choices compared to 12% of men. Almost the same number of women (19%) said they would be likely to use social media to help make their voting choices, compared with just 7% of men. 16% of people were keen on the personal touch and cited ‘direct contact with candidates’ as a way of helping them choose their preferred representatives in the States.

Support for political groups rooted in a desire to speed up the pace of change

As for groups of candidates, 43% said they would support political parties, with 23% opposed and almost the same number (26%) neither supporting or opposing the idea of political parties. Among those who supported political parties, most did so because they felt it may make things clearer and/or speed up the decision-making process (28%), one in five (20%) felt change was needed and 10% felt that parties would appeal to the younger generation and/or create opportunities to stop younger generations from leaving the island.

Meanwhile, within the smaller cohort who opposed parties, 30% of those cited their reasoning as a belief that the island is too small to sustain them. 25% believed there was no need to change the current system.

Future Guernsey Chair, John Hardie, says,
“What’s clear is that values, experience and policy are the issues which matter most to voters and that, in order to effect the changes islanders have told us they’re so keen to see, we need to elect candidates who can deliver on all three.

"The manifesto we are asking candidates to sign up to is based on clear values and robust deliverables - commitments that we need to make to effect change for the better over the next political term. We dearly hope that voters look out for those candidates supporting some or all of our manifesto and take confidence in the research and insights they’re rooted in which have, thus far, proven to be an accurate representation of the wants and needs of islanders.”

Future Guernsey’s manifesto can be found at: https://www.futureguernsey.gg/manifesto_launch