Survey: Newspaper-Reading Teens Voted in Large Numbers; Campaign Sought to Counter Misinformation Found Online

The Yomiuri Shimbun

20:00 JST, September 9, 2025

The voting rate among 18-year-olds who read newspapers was nearly 30 percentage points higher than the overall voting rate for that age in July’s House of Councilors election, according to a recent survey.

The Japan newspaper distributors association, an organization of newspaper sales outlets, ran a campaign titled “Read the newspaper and vote” from July 1, in which it distributed free newspapers to 202 high schools in 31 prefectures.

From July 21, the day after the election, to Aug. 8, the association conducted a survey of third-year students at the participating schools and analyzed the responses from 1,560 eligible 18-year-old voters.

A total of 1,158 students, or 74.23%, said they voted in the upper house election. This compared to a survey by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry that found an 18-year-old voter turnout rate of 45.78%.

Voting among the campaign participants also exceeded the turnout rate among voters of all ages, at 58.51%.

All 1,158 students who voted said that newspapers were helpful. Some of them appear to have decided to vote specifically because they read newspapers.

“Amidst the spread of misinformation on social media and the internet, newspapers were utilized as a means to obtain accurate information,” an executive of the association said. “We hope this campaign encourages students to continue reading newspapers at school libraries and other places, and thereby broaden their horizons.”

The voting age was lowered to 18 in 2016, enabling high school students to vote. However, the turnout among 18- and 19-year-olds has remained low. Although it was 46.78% in the 2016 upper house election, it has since fluctuated in the 30% to low 40% range, consistently falling below the overall turnout.