electorial systems Flashcards
what are the social classes
.AB - Upper class and upper middle class (from A - aristocracy to judges, company executives, down to B - other professionals like doctors, lawyers and teachers).
.C1 - Lower middle class (other white collar workers such as secretaries, bank clerks, general office workers, sales people).
.C2 - Skilled working class (plumbers, electricians, builders, mechanics).
.DE - Unskilled working class (factory workers, manual labourers, farm workers, cleaners and the unemployed).
what is class dealignment and what does it mean for voting?
Class dealignment - less likely to identify with a particular social class, so therefore less likely to expect to vote a certain way. There are now plenty of people who vote for the Conservatives that would be considered working class and large numbers of Labour voters
who identify as middle class.
how has social media impacted voting?
.2010 was the first recent election where the parties invested heavily in online advertising.
.In the US, Obama effectively used new platforms (as they were then) such as Snapchat and Instagram to reach younger audiences. E.g. ‘micro-targeting’.
.In 2015, 79% of young people relied exclusively on online sources for their news, although older voters, who are more likely to vote, still preferred print and TV media.
.The failure of young people to turn out in the Brexit referendum in 2016 led to a huge social media, particularly by the Labour Party to rally young voters in 2017.
what are opinion polls and how have they been used and how have they failed?
.Opinion polls have always been influential, but have failed to predict results on previous occasions - 1992, 2015, 2016 Brexit Referendum and 2017.
.Opinion polls use various methods of gathering information - telephone, face-to-face, online.
what are the advantages of the FPTP (first past the post system)?
Speed and simplicity: FPTP is easy to use, with voters making a single cross and choosing
one candidate. The result is usually known early in the morning after polling day and a new
a government is rapidly formed, allowing a swift and orderly transfer of power. When voters were given the opportunity to replace it with the Alternative Vote (AV) in a referendum held in May 2011, almost 68 per cent of those who voted chose to retain FPTP.
what are the disadvangest of the first past the post system?
MPs and governments can be elected on less than 50 per cent of the vote: More than half
of MPs typically do not command majority support within their constituency. This is because
they do not need an overall majority of the votes cast, but can win by gaining just one more
vote than the second placed candidate.
