The Political Maturity of Adolescents

Using survey data from Austria, the first European country to lower its voting age to 16, I test whether 16 and 17 year olds are politically mature enough to vote and whether enfranchising them influences this. Using the hypothetical eligibility to vote, I find that 16 and 17 year olds have significantly lower values for political interest, frequency of following political news and self-assessed political ability than 18 to 20 year olds. Lowering the voting age does not significantly increase these measures of political maturity. These results support the sceptics of lowering the voting age by showing that 16 and 17 year olds are not politically mature enough and enfranchising them will not change this.