APSA Annual Meeting & Exhibition, August 31- September 3, 2023

Wstępne wyniki badań zostały zaprezentowane podczas prestiżowej 119th konferencji organizowanej przez American Political Science Association (Los Angeles, California). Badania spotkały się z dużym zainteresowaniem środowiska międzynarodowego.

Agnieszka Turska-Kawa została zaproszona do panelu organizowanego przez Central European Political Science Association „The problematic of democratic backsliding in CEE”.

Tytuł wystąpienia: Grey Voters’ Electoral Inclusion Mechanisms. Poland’s 30-year Experience of Democracy

Abstract: The presentation analyses electoral inclusion mechanisms in the oldest segment of voters, called grey voters. The literature most often uses the term to describe voters over 60. Initiatives of this kind have been undertaken in Poland since the restoration of democracy in 1989, but their scope, determinants, and consequences have been different. Initially, mainly political parties (e.g., the National Party of Retirees and Pensioners and the National Agreement of Retirees and Pensioners of the Republic of Poland) provided a platform integrating and popularizing the idea of grey voter activation. However, these initiatives have not withstood the test of time, and the parties mentioned above have never gained substantial support in elections. In 2015 Law and Justice won the parliamentary election, proposing a list of privileges for older voters. General demands (integration, fighting for interests, protection) have turned into financial ones, for instance, concerning the 13th and 14th retirement pension or funding of medicines. The supernatural effect of taking care of the segment of the oldest voters has clear consequences for the party’s electoral support among its voters. In the 2015 elections, PiS won in every age group, but the most significant support – 48.7% – was won among people +60. In the 2019 parliamentary elections, the percentage of sympathy among the oldest voters increased to 55.6 per cent.

The presentation asks questions about the determinants of above-average political activity of grey voters, presenting the extract from the author’s research. Apart from the importance of the determinants, they aim to answer what is the incremental validity of the political predictors over the psychological and religious ones.