Political disengagement amongst young people has been a problem for a while. In a post-expenses, post-Savile, post-phone hacking age, many established institutions are mistrusted, political parties most of all. Even the Lib Dems, who rode into coalition on the young vote, are in the doghouse after abandoning their tuition fees pledge. Younger people are incredibly interested in political issues and are hungry to find out more. Sadly, many don’t because they’re scared of asking the wrong thing or looking stupid – no surprise given the combative nature of UK politics. It’s really important to address those fears head on, and that’s where Ask Amy comes to the rescue.
Ask Amy is a new app aimed at engaging voters in their 20s and 30s with politics. The Siri/WhatsApp-style tool gives short, impartial answers to questions about politics and is specifically designed to be
approachable, encouraging users to find out as much as possible and inform them to vote with confidence at the General Election. The website and Android app have gone live and an Apple iOS app is to follow. All you have to do is just type www.askamy.net into your mobile device – it’s that simple.
Ask Amy is the brainchild of No One Ever Told Me About Politics, a group of volunteers in their 20s and 30s from diverse political backgrounds, who have come together to tackle disengagement with
politics amongst their peers. The tool was developed following a successful £5,000 grassroots Crowdfunder campaign, with an additional £1,000 of start-up funding from Talk Talk secured after winning a competitive pitch and digital innovation prize.
Our Young Fabians Vice-Chair Ade Adeyemi is one of the co-founders of No One Ever Told Me About Politics and producer of Ask Amy.
If you would like to help out, get in touch with Ade and the Ask Amy team at [email protected]. There are a number of ways you can get involved, answering new questions coming into the question-bank, engaging with partners like Electoral Commission/Microsoft analyse the data… Interested? Just give Ade a shout and you could become part of something truly inspirational.
Want to find out more? Read Ade's blog and get in touch!