After making the buzz in early January, the Elyze application, inspired by the Tinder dating application, to make its users "match" with presidential candidates, has made small children.

All these applications aim to reconcile millennials and Generation Z with politics in the hope of reducing the abstention rate during the presidential election.

According to INSEE, in 2017, less than two out of ten young people (aged between 18 and 29 and registered on the electoral lists), had voted in all rounds of the legislative and presidential elections. 

"These tools, which are generally developed by civil society (academics, media, NGOs, associations), aim to help voters to get to grips with the mass of information to which they are exposed during electoral campaigns. By presenting a summary of the programs and by allowing the voter to compare their positions with the proposals, it pre-chews the work of reading and allows the voter to save time", explains Thomas Vitiello, doctor of political science at the Political Research Center of Sciences-Po ( Cevipof), contacted by France 24. 

>> Presidential: Tinder and "Voted" match to fight against youth abstention

Youth abstention threatens the presidential election

"The birth of these applications shows that we are seizing the problem of youth disenchantment with politics, but I think that it is not a miracle solution", explains, for his part, Stewart Chau, head of political studies. and societal issues of the Viavoice polling institute, contacted by France 24,  

Indeed, according to him, the divorce between youth and politics is deep.

"When, in 2021, you have only 10% of young people (compared to 40% in 1968) who think that politicians contribute to the progress of humanity, I don't know if an application could change their minds ", continues the co-author, with the director general of Ifop Frédéric Dabi, of the book "La Fracture", an analysis of the opinions and relationship to politics of 18-30 year olds.   

The regional debacle of 2021 did not help: 66.7% of those registered on the electoral lists had not moved.

According to an Ipsos study, 87% of 18-24 year olds and 83% of 25-34 year olds shunned the ballot box, compared to 40% of those over 70.  

The formation of a political culture is one of the objectives of these applications, as for their ancestors born in the 2000s. In Europe, the pioneers of these tools are the Netherlands.

Other countries have followed the trend, such as England, Belgium and Germany, which in 2002 developed the popular Wahl-O-Mat platform.

"All rotten, all helpless"

The political context (rise of extremes, candidates not from the traditional political class, weakening of parties, etc.) has plunged the French, and especially young people, into a "political jam", which prevents them from finding bearings.

These same categories think that politicians are "all rotten and all powerless", according to Stewart Chau. 

"It must be said that the scandals of recent years have led the French to believe that the probity of political figures leaves something to be desired, that they are miserly of influence and power. However, honesty, for young people, is c "is probity and exemplarity. Young people need a figure who sets an example because they lack ideals and ideologies," explains the pollster, who will publish on March 17, "The Opinion of emotions" (Editions de l'Aube). 

"Faced with a youth born in a semantics of crisis (ecological, health, economic, social), there has never been, for them, a viable political solution to solve these problems", specifies Stewart Chau, who reports that "10% of young people believe that political parties will not be able to provide effective solutions to solve the climate problem".  

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?

It is also difficult to know what impact these applications may have on youth voting.

To date, few studies have been conducted.

In 2012, however, Cevipof conducted a survey on its electoral advice tool, the Presidential Compass, to understand the impact it could have on the vote of its users.

Of the approximately 4,000 people questioned, a third of the respondents had, on the one hand, affirmed that the application had had no effect on their vote.

"Either these are individuals who did it just for fun, or they did not take it seriously or did not find it satisfactory", deciphers Thomas Vitiello, scientific manager of the Presidential Compass.  

This year, these applications may be able to help young people find their bearings.

Because, as Stewart Chau points out, young people are far from being depoliticized.

"We have a rather engaged and alert youth on social issues, but who are no longer interested in politics, do not find themselves in the current political offer and are therefore politically disaffiliated", he analyzes.

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