Young people taking the John Smith Centre’s groundbreaking Youth Poll Project course have chosen the themes for this year’s high-profile UK Youth Poll.
The UK Youth Poll, generously funded by Nationwide, produces high-quality annual data and results about the priorities and opinions of young people in the UK. Taking inspiration from the Harvard Youth Poll, the John Smith Centre always intended the UK Youth Poll to be both for young people and by young people. This year, that has become reality, as the diverse students on the Youth Poll Project course have spent the last few weeks proposing, discussing and prioritising the themes that they want the poll to cover. We could not have hope for a better group of young people to take on this important task: they have been enthusiastic, full of great ideas, and intelligent and serious in their choice of the themes.
The themes chosen by the students on the course reflect some of the biggest issues of our time. Their interest in GenAI reflects its potential impact on their lives as they enter the workforce, and its integration into the social media platforms that so many people use. The geopolitical instability that has been a feature of 2026 so far has included shock events such as the US intervention in Venezuela, ongoing conflict in Ukraine and Israel and Gaza, and widespread protest in Iran. It is in that light that students have chosen to make the theme of geopolitics and defence their second priority.
Turning to domestic politics, the rise of Reform UK and continuing news and debates about immigration in the UK have fuelled their interest in migration and identity. At the same time, they have demonstrated their interest in underlying forces that shape how everyone, including young people, understand what is going on in the world. This is reflected in their decision to focus on media and information as well as civic engagement and education. These last two themes fit neatly with the John Smith Centre’s focus on opening doors to public life and politics for young people from all backgrounds.
Over the coming weeks, the students will write the questions that fit within the survey themes, analyse the results and write blog posts about them. They will also be involved in promoting the results via social media and will join the launch of the 2026 UK Youth Poll report at Westminster as well as the young people’s hustings organised by the John Smith Centre ahead of the elections to the Scottish Parliament. In short, this year’s UK Youth Poll will be shaped from start to finish by young people. This is the work of the John Smith Centre in action: diverse young people are being given unique and important opportunities to engage with politics and shape the national agenda on the topics that matter to them.
Last year’s report also challenged many of the prevailing narratives about young people. It highlighted that they are often optimistic about the future, prefer democracy to dictatorship, and are keen to get involved in politics. At the same time, they think that UK democracy is in trouble and are worried about money, jobs, housing, and the health service. So, they are committed to democracy but want it to deliver on the bread-and-butter issues that will help them feel more secure and less anxious. We will see if similar concerns emerge from this year’s UK Youth Poll.
The John Smith Centre and the young people who are working on the UK Youth Poll are already excited about the launch of this year’s report, which will take place on Tuesday the 21st of April. The report will again present fresh, high-quality insights into what matters to young people in the UK. And thanks to the themes that have been chosen by students, the report will reveal young people’s views on many of the big issues of our time. So, watch this space!
