Goodbye party: Austria’s youth wants to be independent and self-reliant

These are the results of the youth trend monitor, which the market and opinion research institute Marketagent collected on behalf of the high school travel operator DocLX. Even if the client as an event agency would like to see it differently, only 22.6 percent of those surveyed want to celebrate every day. 84.6 percent want to be financially independent.

• Also read: Young people lose their desire to party

The online survey among 2,192 young Austrians in April and May showed that 81 percent think it is important to have a job or a job. 79.7 percent want to make something of themselves and for 75.7 percent a good education is important. Only 28.4 percent want to live into the day. Market agent boss Thomas Schwabl explained that the young people “don’t want to hack anything” is not the case. “They want to be independent and self-reliant.”

Which worries the boys

But young people in Austria also have concerns: 65.8 percent are of the opinion that it is becoming increasingly difficult for the young generation to build wealth. 60.7 percent are already thinking about their financial security in old age. 59.7 percent are convinced that their generation will have to pay for the mistakes of the previous generation. “The last generation sends its regards,” said Schwabl. More than half (51.8 percent) say that the lives of the younger generation are significantly more uncertain than those of their parents’ generation.

Little interest in politics

Austrian youth are primarily interested in music (65.6 percent) and sport (53.1 percent), and nothing has changed in recent years – the youth trend monitor has been surveyed since 2012. However, the boys have little interest in politics. Only 34.4 percent are interested in political events in Austria and the world, and only 12.1 percent are very interested. This interest has only increased by one percentage point compared to 2013. This may be because respondents aged 14 to 29 have little trust in politics (16 percent). They place significantly more trust in the police (56.3 percent) and the judiciary (53.1 percent). At 37.7 percent, the banking and financial system also enjoys significantly more trust than politicians.

FPÖ as the most attractive party

It is sad that more than 20 percent do not talk about politics at all. “Disinterest is the biggest killer for every profession,” said Schwabl. Only 11.5 percent talk to friends about the topic several times a week. 18.8 percent talk about it once a week and just as many talk about it several times a month. The most attractive party is the FPÖ with 17.9 percent, followed by the Beer Party with 15.6 percent. The SPÖ is at 10.3 percent among young people, the Greens at eight – although at the time of the survey the topic of Lena Schilling had not yet gone viral. The Neos are attractive to 7.9 percent of young people, the ÖVP to 6.6 percent and the KPÖ to 4.2 percent.

Van der Bellen as “Hero”

Those surveyed would most like to go out to dinner with Federal President Alexander van der Bellen (19.2 percent). “He is the absolute hero for young people,” said DocLX managing director Alexander Knechtsberger.

17.7 percent would like to spend the evening with Dominik Wlazny from the Beer Party. 14.4 percent would like to have dinner with former US President Donald Trump, 14 percent with Russian President Vladimir Putin and 13.6 percent with Herbert Kickl from the FPÖ.

71 percent would go to the National Council election

It is encouraging that 71.2 percent of those surveyed would vote in the National Council elections. 60.6 percent will vote in the EU elections. 42 percent are convinced that the European Union brings mainly advantages. More than half (54.1 percent) have a positive attitude towards it. Even more (67.8 percent) think the euro is a good single currency. 45.4 percent expect the EU to expand the health and social services, 43.2 percent want the EU to promote international peace and 39.4 percent want clear solutions on the issue of immigration policy.

Social media as a source of information

During election campaigns, young people primarily use social media (49.4 percent). Especially in the group of first-time voters (14 to 19 year olds), this is the first choice at 60.7 percent. 38 percent of young people tend to read newspapers online, followed by television (33.6 percent) and radio (24.1 percent).

And even though Austrian youth primarily use social media for further education, they are surprisingly convinced that they recognize fake news (53.9 percent) and deep fakes (41.9 percent). “There is no lack of self-confidence,” said Schwabl, commenting on the result. Almost two thirds (63.8 percent) said they checked the source of a post. “I personally don’t believe that. The information intake will be much more superficial,” said the market agent boss. But one in four at least admitted that there was a high probability of falling for fake news.