Values, experience, and policies appear to be at the forefront of most people’s minds when it comes to choosing who they will vote for next month.
As Guernsey gears up for its second fully island wide vote, a think tank has released more findings from its research, giving an idea of how the voting patterns may look.
Future Guernsey surveyed a cross section of society for its research last year.
It found that 53% of voters will consider a candidate’s values before deciding to back them.
52% of voters will choose candidates based on their track record in the Assembly, and 51% are keen to vote based on a candidates track record in the community and their professional experience.
Age, appearance and local status were not cited as factors in choosing candidates through Future Guernsey’s research.
Just 15% said they will vote based on their personal connection to a candidate.
“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,” said Future Guernsey Chair, John Hardie.
“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.”
The Future Guernsey manifesto was created based on the research commissioned and through working with individuals with experience in the different sectors covered such as tax and housing.
That manifesto has been adopted by the six candidates representing the only political party registered for the 2025 election, Forward Guernsey.
Future Guernsey’s research found that support for political groups rooted in a desire to speed up the pace of change with 43% of survey responders saying they would support political parties, with 23% opposed and almost the same number (26%) neither supporting or opposing the idea of political parties.
Regardless of being in a party or an independent, a candidate’s manifesto was only cited by 46% of survey responders when it comes to making up their mind who to vote for, with the same amount also saying they use printed or online news providers to help make their choices.
Word of mouth was an important factor for many survey responders though – with 20% of women and 12% of men saying that will help inform their voting choices.
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.