chapter 4.2 media and voting

Question 1

how was traditional press like newspapers HAVE affected election outcomes

Answer 1

the sun in 1992 ruthlessly ridiculed neil kinnock as unfit to be PM. when john major won the election after this the newspaper boasted ‘its the sun wot won it’

after the paper then backed blair in 1989 they claimed ‘its the sun that swang it’

Question 2

why DONT newspapers make a large difference to outcomes

Answer 2

• the press has exaggerated infleunce since its headlines simply reinforce the voting intentions of sites readers. ex conservative voters are more likely to read daily mail because of their right wing ideas rather than get their ideas from the daily mail
• rapid decline of use of newspapers shows a declining influence they have on elections. in 2017 corbyn was ridiculed in the daily mirror yet labor still increased its vote share it 9.6%

Question 3

what relationship did macmillan have with the media?

Answer 3

• initially used tv to his advantage by appearing on BBC with Eisenhower
  however, the rise of satirical programs such as that was the week found him an easy figure to mock and in the wake of the media frenzy caused by the Profumo scandal he resigned

Question 4

what relationship did blair have with the media

Answer 4

blair’s press secretary Alistar Campbell intuitively understood importance of spinning favorable news stories for Blair

however the Iraq war and cash for honours scandal gave him negative relationship .

Question 5

influence of tele debates

Answer 5

2010- brown, clegg and cameron all debated and gave the lib dems a powerful platform. where the ‘ i agree with nick’ thing came from

2017- may didn’t not join the debates which fuelled opposition to riducle her without being able to defend herself
caroline. lucas: ‘you don’t say this. is the most important election. of our lifetime then don’t show up’

Question 6

how did social media affect labours 2017 campaign

Answer 6

• ## corbyns appearance at Glasto increasd talk amongst younger generation about him on socials

Question 7

what % of young people voted for corbyn in 2017

Answer 7

66%

Question 8

why is social media support deceiving

Answer 8

becuase young people dont turn out to vote

2017 only 54% of 18-25 turned out to vote

Question 9

why is the television and media not that important in predicting outcomes

Answer 9

from the media alone it would have been almost a sweeping victory for coryb considering the amount of slander may have been through in the media such as her bad dancing, staged conferences and running through field sof wheat

yet may still breat corbyn (supply and demand agreemnt aside)

Question 10

how can opinion polls have an impact on voting behavoiur

Answer 10

2015 polls suggested that ed milliband may be in the race to win, the fear of a labour SNP coalition and thus infiuenced conservative voters to turn out and change the course of the campaign

Question 11

evidence of opinion polls helping the conservatives

Answer 11

2015 the polls predicted a very close race between labour and conservatives

lead to conservatives heavily campaigng and warning people against a snp-labour coalition which encouraged conservative voters to turn out

Question 12

example of opinion polls not hepling toires

Answer 12

2017 opinion polls predicted a conservative lead which enrourgaed many remain suporters to vote labour ot protect interests leading to a conservative minoirty governemnt

Question 13

advanatges of opinion polls

Answer 13

• reflect changing opinions
• can lead to incerased turnout (2015)
• enahnce representative democracy

Question 14

disadvantage of opinion polls

Answer 14

• can deflate turnout if one party is shown to be ahead
• leads to tacical voting instread of voting for who you want
• dont accurualty reflec the outcome of elections