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Study: Videogame Players More Likely to Vote Than Non-Gamers

Results of an Entertainment Software Association survey found a majority of videogame players are planning to vote in next year’s presidential election. They also indicated that gamers have strong opinions on a variety of political issues.

If you thought that videogame players were apathetic or disengaged when it comes to politics, you would be wrong.

A recently released survey commissioned by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which wanted to discern the political leanings and involvement of gamers, found that 100 million plan to vote in the 2016 election. It also found that a greater percentage of gamers, as opposed to the non-gaming population, plans to vote next year.

“[Gamers] have strong opinions on issues, ranging from terrorism to the economy to education, that show that they are passionate and land all over the political spectrum,” Richard Taylor, ESA senior vice president of communications, told Associations Now  of the survey results. “It also shows that they’re informed enough to know what their positions are.”

Taylor added that the association had never polled its members on these issues before, yet he wasn’t surprised by the high levels of reported engagement.

The survey, conducted by Ipsos MediaCT, found, for example, that 80 percent of videogame players plan to vote in next year’s election, compared to 75 percent of non-gamers. The higher-than-average participation percentage is nothing new, either. In 2012, 79 percent of gamers voted, as opposed to 69 percent of the general public.

Gamers are also interested in a wide range of issues:

  • Sixty-seven percent support greater investment in renewable energy.
  • Sixty-one percent reported there should be a more equitable distribution of wealth.
  • Nearly 50 percent believe the United States should engage with other countries.

When it comes to party affiliation, gamers are pretty evenly proportioned: 38 percent identified as Democrat, the same percentage identified as Republican, and 24 percent identified as Independent.

Taylor said the level of political engagement among gamers provides politicians an opportunity to expand their campaign outreach into online and videogames, which President Obama did during both of his campaigns and which Mitt Romney did in 2012.

“The fact that videogame players aren’t homogenous—they don’t lie on one end of the political spectrum—really shows that they are in many ways a key swing constituency out there,” Taylor said.

(iStock/Thinkstock)

Katie Bascuas

By Katie Bascuas

Katie Bascuas is associate editor of Associations Now. MORE

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