Are younger candidates’ views different from older candidates’ views: some insights from the Comparative Candidate Survey

In the aggregate, young adults in Western countries generally share more progressive values in fields such as environmental protection or minority rights than older generations. In this research article we ask: Do young candidates and parliamentarians share this more progressive agenda? Using data from the Comparative Candidate Survey (2010–2021), and through bivariate and multivariate analyses, we find, indeed, that young candidates (especially young female politicians) are more supportive of abortion, same sex marriage, and, to a little lesser degree, in favour of stricter environment legislation compared to older generations of politicians. As such we contribute to the growing literature on youth’s substantive representation. We find that, on average, young politicians are more likely to share their constituents’ beliefs.