THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER - APPROVED ELECTRONICALLY GENERATED THESIS/DISSERTATION COVER-PAGE Electronic identifier: 15188 Date of electronic submission: 26/06/2015 The University of Manchester makes unrestricted examined electronic theses and dissertations freely available for download and reading online via Manchester eScholar at http://www.manchester.ac.uk/escholar. This print version of my thesis/dissertation is a TRUE and ACCURATE REPRESENTATION of the electronic version submitted to the University of Manchester's institutional repository, Manchester eScholar. Approved electronically generated cover-page version 1.0 DOES THE WEB CREATE A PATHWAY TO POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT FOR YOUNG PEOPLE? AN EXAMINATION INTO THE EFFECTS OF ELECTORAL WEBSITES ON POLITICAL ATTITUDES, BEHAVIOUR AND COGNITIVE ENGAGEMENT. A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of PhD in Social Change in the Faculty of Humanities 2015 Cheryl Anderson School of Social Sciences 1 Table of Contents Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 1: Literature Review ................................................................................................................ 17 1.1 Electoral engagement and theoretical perspectives ............................................................ 17 1.1.1 Is turnout declining among young people? .................................................................. 17 1.1.2 Explanations for youth (dis)engagement ...................................................................... 22 1.1.3 What can be done to increase youth turnout? ............................................................. 36 1.2 The web and political engagement ....................................................................................... 40 1.2.1 Why the web? ............................................................................................................... 40 1.2.2 The web and engagement ................................................................................................... 43 1.2.2 Websites and engagement .................................................................................................. 45 1.3 Mobilization websites ........................................................................................................... 47 1.3.1 Youth mobilization websites ......................................................................................... 48 1.3.2 Candidate websites .............................................................................................................. 51 1.3.3 Vote Advice Applications .............................................................................................. 55 1.4 Mobilization websites: a pathway to participation for young people? ................................ 61 Chapter 2: Data and Methods............................................................................................................... 65 2.1 Website identification and content analysis .............................................................................. 66 2.2. Online survey and experiment ................................................................................................... 72 2.2.1 User experience and evaluation .......................................................................................... 78 2.3 Testing website effects ............................................................................................................... 81 2.3.1 Independent variables ......................................................................................................... 81 2.4 Ethical considerations ................................................................................................................. 86 2.5 Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 87 Chapter 3: Content analysis .................................................................................................................. 88 3.1 Youth mobilization and candidate websites in the 2012 elections ............................................ 92 3.1.1 Overall website scores: youth mobilization and candidate sites ......................................... 93 3.1.2 Design and functionality ...................................................................................................... 97 3.1.3 Information provision: candidate and issues ....................................................................... 99 3.1.4 Information provision: election and voting ....................................................................... 103 3.1.5 Content interactivity .......................................................................................................... 106 3.1.5 Interpersonal interactivity ................................................................................................. 109 3.1.6 Candidate and youth mobilization website summary ....................................................... 111 3.2 VAA sites ................................................................................................................................... 116 2 3.2.1 Overall scores and design and functionality ...................................................................... 116 3.2.2 Information provision ........................................................................................................ 122 3.2.3 Interactivity and Mobilization ............................................................................................ 126 3.3 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 129 Chapter 4: Impact, evaluation and experience of the websites ......................................................... 131 4.1 Candidate websites ................................................................................................................... 132 4.2 Youth Mobilization websites ..................................................................................................... 139 4.3 VAAs .......................................................................................................................................... 154 4.4 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 168 Chapter 5: Website effects ................................................................................................................. 173 5.1 Vote ........................................................................................................................................... 175 5.2 Attention to news ..................................................................................................................... 177 5.3 Political attitudes ...................................................................................................................... 181 5.3.1 Internal Efficacy.................................................................................................................. 183 5.3.2 External Efficacy ................................................................................................................. 192 5.3.3 Trust ................................................................................................................................... 203 5.5 Chapter summary...................................................................................................................... 209 Chapter 6: Discussion and Conclusion ................................................................................................ 214 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................ 223 Appendices .......................................................................................................................................... 245 3 List of Figures Figure 1: Voter Turnout in the UK 1964-2010 (British Election Study) ................................................. 20 Figure 2: Voter Turnout in the US 1952-2012 (American National Election Study) ............................. 21 Figure 3: Outline of online experiment ................................................................................................. 76 Figure 4: Overall website scores for youth mobilization and candidates sites, London ...................... 95 Figure 5: Overall website scores for youth mobilization and candidate scores, US ............................. 96 Figure 6: Design features in youth mobilization and candidate websites, London .............................. 98 Figure 7: Design features in youth mobilization and candidate websites, US ...................................... 99 Figure 8: Information provision on issues and candidates on youth mobilization and candidate websites, London ................................................................................................................................ 101 Figure 9: Information provision on issues and candidates on youth mobilization and candidate websites, US ........................................................................................................................................ 102 Figure 10: Provision of election information on youth