Ageism and Voting Behaviour in a Fictitious Election Situation in Japan

In a super-aged society, issues concerning older adults are increasingly pressing. Adequate support for this demographic is essential. To achieve this, we must examine voting behaviour toward candidates who emphasise policies supporting older adults during elections and related psychological factors. In this study, we investigated the relationship between participants' ageism and their voting behaviour in a fictitious election situation, surveying Japanese university students (Preliminary Study) and a broader Japanese sample (Main Study). We controlled for participants' subjective wealth, age, gender, and whether they had a child (Main Study only). Results indicated that in both surveys, individuals with stronger ageism were less likely to vote for candidates emphasising support for older adults (Main Study: marginally significant trend). This implies that ageism might be one of the factors related to voting behaviour. The findings of this study have implications for addressing the challenges related to the distribution of resources between older and younger people.