Factors that affect parties and their electoral outcomes

Question 1

What factors can affect how parties do in elections?

Answer 1

• Relevance and attractiveness of main policies
• Leadership
• A committed and energised group of activists on the ground
• Party Unity
• Electoral System

Question 2

Relevance and attractiveness of main policies:

Answer 2

• Conservative offer to ‘Get Brexit done’

- Resonated with voters more than Labour’s policy

Question 3

Leadership:

Answer 3

• Strong personality and good communication skills
• Theresa May came across as a somewhat robotic performer
• Whereas, Jeremy Corbyn performed better in this area and went down especially with younger voters

Question 4

A committed and energised group of activists on the ground:

Answer 4

• Parties need local campaigners to hand to leaflets and coordinate the campaign in the constituencies

Question 5

Party Unity:

Answer 5

• Tories in great disarray under May
• Johnson solved this by removing the whip from 21 rebel MP’s several of whom decided not to contest their seat
• Labour remained heavily factionalised and dogged by accusations of antisemitism

Question 6

Electoral System:

Answer 6

• Liberal democrats particularly disadvantaged
• In 2019, despite winning 11% of the total vote, they were awarded just 1.7% of the seats
• Conservatives received just over 43% of the vote but 56% of the seats