CAMPAIGN STRATEGIES

Question 1

INTRODUCTION ( 20 )

Answer 1

Campaign strategies are a crucial part of an election campaign and are used by parties to influence the electorate to give them their vote. This essay will discuss to what extent traditional grassroots strategies are effective in helping parties gain electoral success. This essay will argue that traditional grassroots strategies are effective.

Question 2

CANVASING - (P)

Answer 2

One Traditional grassroot campaign strategy that political parties use during an election campaign is canvassing

Question 3

CANVASING - (EX)

Answer 3

Canvassing involves party members going door to door within a local area to speak to the electorate about their party’s policies. It requires sufficient numbers of ‘Boots on the ground’ to be effective.

Question 4

CANVASING - (E)

Answer 4

For example, in the 2015 General Election the Labour party focused on the marginal seat of Ilford North and increased Labour’s vote by 9.6%.

Question 5

CANVASING - (A)

Answer 5

This shows that the traditional method of canvassing is successful in improving a party’s electoral success as Labour transformed these conversations into votes.

Question 6

CANVASING - (R)

Answer 6

However parties may rely on “boots on the ground” when in reality they are only effective in local elections.

Question 7

CANVASING - (EX)

Answer 7

Due to needing a large number of party members, parties will struggle to influence large masses of people nationwide.

Question 8

CANVASING - (E)

Answer 8

For example, Labour never won the 2015 General election even though they had more people going door-to-door than the tories.

Question 9

CANVASING - (A)

Answer 9

This highlights that canvassing may not be the most effective strategy for a political party to improve on their electoral success.

Question 10

LEADERS DEBATE (MEDIA) - (P)

Answer 10

Media strategies are another method parties use, this involves Leaders Debates.

Question 11

LEADERS DEBATE ( MEDIA - (EX)

Answer 11

Leaders debates can be seen as effective as they allow the people of the public to hear the party leaders views on certain areas and also to hear more detailed information on their ideas and ideals.

Question 12

LEADERS DEBATE ( MEDIA ) - (E)

Answer 12

For example a panel base survey found that in 2015, 38% of people said that they were influenced by these debates.

Question 13

LEADERS DEBATE ( MEDIA ) - (A)

Answer 13

This helped prove electoral success as in the 2015 Leaders debate, Nicola Sturgeon was seen as the biggest winner of the debate and went on to win a landslide victory.

Question 14

LEADERS DEBATE ( MEDIA ) - (R)

Answer 14

Although a good performance in the leaders debate does not always mean they will do well in the election.

Question 15

LEADERS DEBATE ( MEDIA ) - (E)

Answer 15

For example in the 2010 Leaders debate Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg was seen as “winning” the debate but during the election, liberal democrats vote share only increased by 1%.

Question 16

LEADERS DEBATE ( MEDIA ) - (A)

Answer 16

This shows that, although leader’s debate can appeal to voters and influence them to vote, “winning” the debate does not always mean that parties will be successful in the election.

Question 17

SOCIAL MEDIA - (P)

Answer 17

New technology is another campaign method used by political parties, this is mainly in referral to social media as it is the most current use of a campaigning strategy.

Question 18

SOCIAL MEDIA - (EX)

Answer 18

New technology can be seen as effective as it helps parties target and reach certain demographics. Younger generations gather most of their information from social media apps, more specifically, tiktok.If parties want to gain voters from the 18- mid 20’s range, they need to advertise strategically towards them.

Question 19

SOCIAL MEDIA - (E)

Answer 19

For example, In 2009, in preparation for the 2010 General Election, the Conservative party had put seven staff into place to run their internet strategy. Also as part of their media strategy, the Conservatives used YouTube to try and engage with the public.

Question 20

SOCIAL MEDIA - (A)

Answer 20

This helped to improve electoral success as the conservatives went on to win the 2009 general election.

Question 21

SOCIAL MEDIA - (R)

Answer 21

However Social media cannot always be effective as it’s shown to only target certain demographics, meaning they’re missing out on potential audiences.

Question 22

SOCIAL MEDIA - (EX)

Answer 22

As mentioned previously, it is mainly the younger audiences that use social media as a way to gather information on parties in times coming up to general elections. Therefore, older voters may not have access to social media or may not particularly like it, which will put parties at a disadvantage if they put all their advertising into new media.

Question 23

SOCIAL MEDIA -(E)

Answer 23

For example Rory Cellan Jones said that it “wasn’t social media who won it” -referring to the great success the conservatives won in the 2019GE.

Question 24

SOCIAL MEDIA - (A)

Answer 24

This shows that social media can be an effective tool to grab voters.However, due to algorithms and databases, potential voters who don’t