1997 Voting Case Study

Question 1

Key points

Answer 1

The 1997 general election was a landslide victory for New Labour over Major’s Conservatives, for several reasons:
• The Conservatives suffered internal divisions, poor leadership and failed to seem relevant to contemporary society. Voters felt that they had not dealt well with the 1990s financial crisis.
• Blair modernised the Labour Party, appealed to more middle-class voters, moved away from traditional policies such as nationalisation and emphasised constitutional reform - in common with the Liberal Democrats, thus enabling some tactical voting.
The Liberal Democrats emerged as a significant third party.

Question 2

Age

Answer 2

Labour achieved more votes across all age groups than the Conservative Party, with the highest percentage coming from the 18-34 age group.
This was particularly seen in the 18-24 female age group, with 53 per cent voting Labour as opposed to 24 per cent voting Conservative.
The Conservatives’ largest reduction in votes was in the 35-54 age group (down by 16 points).

Question 3

Media

Answer 3

The press largely turned against the Conservative Party, with most media backing Blair. The Conservatives also faced a number of well-publicised financial and sexual scandals. In contrast, Labour had a highly polished campaign, focused on Blair. Public-relations experts dealt with the media, focus groups were used to understand public opinion and marginal seats were targeted. For more on the influence of the media, see pages 34-35.

Question 4

Gender

Answer 4

In 1997, the gap between male and female voting habits closed, with the male/female vote for Labour being 45/44 per cent. Reasons may include:
More women were working by the 1990s, particularly in the public sector.
• New Labour’s more family-friendly policies, such as free nursery places.

Question 5

Class

Answer 5

Historically, voters in Britain had been strongly fluenced by their social class background. This all hanged in 1997, as can be seen in the chart below.
Middle class
Working class
Abstain
_ LAB
_ CON
LD
Other
do nura win in 1997 was aided by Blair’s ablty to apped to middle class voters as well as the working-class base.

Question 6

Employment status

Answer 6

Around 45 per cent of those in all types of employment voted for Labour, as did 64 per cent of the unemployed. The percentage was slightly lower for the self-employed and those working in the private sector. The Conservative vote was nearer 30 per cent from the employed and 15 per
cent from the unemployed.

Question 7

Ethnicity

Answer 7

70 per cent of all non-white voters voted for Labout in 1997, as opposed to just 18 per cent for the Conservatives, Labour gained 66 per cent of Asian votes and 82 per cent of black votes