factors affecting party success Flashcards
obstacles for parties success
- lack of funding
- discrimination from electoral system - FPTP favours larger parties
- lack of media exposure
- lack of organisation in communities
- wasted votes consideration
leadership as a factor affecting success
- as the ‘figurehead’ of the party - they are the potential PM of the country so must be respected + reputable
- must have good leading qualities
ed miliband bad press example
as leader of the labour party, when an unflattering photo of him covered The Sun newspaper, it pushed uncertain voters to vote for tories / not labour.
party unity as a factor affecting success
the stability of the party is important/ if not everyone shares the same beliefs it is seen as unreliable.
examples: 1997 loss for Tories - division over UK position in EU, Labour post Corbyn - 2019 - divided in left or centrist views
media coverage as a factor affecting success
Wavering voters may be swayed significantly by the media - ed miliband on the cover of The Sun - negative - vs ‘The Sun Backs Blair’, as well as on the media simplifying policies and manifestos so they are more accessible for people.
neutral journals
BBC
Conservative papers
The Sun, The daily mail, the telegraph
Labour papers
The daily mirror, the guardian
limitiations of a party’s manifesto
they don’t have to stick to it and events may be unforseeable that happen - such as Covid, where Boris quotes ‘Let the bodies pile high’, or 2008 financial crash, or Labour (Blair) involvement in Iraq conflict 2003 onwards
example of strong manifesto
Boris Johnson- Get Brexit done as slogan
example of weak manifesto
lib dems pledge to reduce tuition fees - when in coalition with Tories in 2010 they actually tripled them - lost them so many seats - from 55 to 8
