The headline is simple. Older voters defeated the Scottish independence referendum, as illustrated by this graph breaking down voter intentions.
But data journalism can be a tricky thing, and graphs can easily misleading unless designed with a bit of thought. Take a look at the first bar. It illustrates the voting intentions of 16 and 17 year old voters. A two-year gap. Then there’s 18-24, a seven year group. Then ten-year steps until we reach 64, then “65+”.
Now look again. There’s no information about varying turnout rates, and even with 84% overall voting, I’m willing to bet turnout increased with voter age. Yet there’s a graph that gives the visual impression that over 65s (a cohort that covers a 30-40 year age range) is the same size as one for 16 and 17 year olds.
The graph, whether intentionally or otherwise, gives the impression of a small minority overruling the wishes of a majority.
And that annoys me.
On the other hand, there’ s this:
http://puckstownlane.wordpress.com/2011/04/26/do-all-people-aged-over-55-constitute-a-single-demographic-group/
Actually it’s worse.
The figure of 71% 16-17 year olds voting YES comes from a poll conducted by Lord Ashcroft. His sample was 2000 people. HOWEVER only 14 of these respondents were aged 16 or 17. So the claim that 71% of 16-17 year olds voted YES really means than 10 out of the 14 young people polled by Ashcroft said they voted YES.