LONDON — On June 23, tens of thousands of young Britons will be gathered at the Glastonbury music festival, whose headliners include Coldplay, Muse, and Adele. Others will be avidly following the European Soccer Championship in France or biting their nails in anticipation of the next episode of hit teenage soap “Hollyoaks.’’
Oh, and there is the referendum that day asking them whether Britain should leave the European Union.
“Wait, are we even registered to vote?’’ Priya Patel, 25, asked her friend recently, as they waited outside a theater in east London to see their favorite stars arrive at the British Soap Awards.
Would she want Britain to stay in the European Union?
“Oh, definitely,’’ Patel, a medical practitioner, answered impatiently, switching her attention to her smartphone, visibly more interested in televised dramas than in the long-running tensions between her country and Brussels.
Holding the attention of young voters — and getting them to turn out on June 23 — is one of the biggest challenges for both sides in the campaign over Britain’s place in Europe, especially for the advocates of remaining in the European Union.
Polling suggests that younger people are more favorable to continued British membership in the bloc than are older voters, and in a close race could decide the outcome.
The problem for the pro-European forces is that young people are historically less likely to vote.
In this case, some analysts say, it could be particularly hard to motivate them, not just because many of them will be immersed in summer activities, but also because they are being asked to embrace the status quo rather than to take up an idealistic cause of change of the type that typically energizes young people.
“It’s hard to get them passionate about remaining,’’ said Scott Townsin, 26, who recently directed a campaign video urging young people to vote in favor of staying in the European Union.
Older voters tend to decide based on information they get from traditional media. But with young people, Townsin said, “you’ve got to be loud, you’ve got to compete with brands, favorite friends, Instagram, whatever, to get their attention.’’
The voter registration deadline was Thursday, prompting ambitious drives by both sides to sign up supporters.
Some surveys indicate that half of those ages 18 to 30 want to remain in the European Union, with the proportion higher among those younger than 25.
Young Britons are generally comfortable with a multicultural society, surveys have found, and they value the opportunity to work and travel in 28 European nations without a visa.
A survey released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center found that 57 percent of those 18 to 34 years old in Britain had a favorable view of the European Union, compared with 38 percent of people 50 and older.
Some of the efforts to get young people to vote are paying off.
Since March 1, more than 1 million people have registered to vote, with big gains among those who are 18 to 34 years old, according to figures published recently by the government.
