General Election Case Studies Flashcards
1
Q
1979 General Election
Results
A
- Turnout = 76.0%
- Conservative Party won a 43-seat majority while Labour lost 62 seats with Thatcher becoming the first female PM.
- House of Commons was dominated by Labour and the Conservatives, with little representatives of smaller parties.
- Marked the beginning of 18 years of consecutive government.
2
Q
1979 General Election
Social factors
A
- Growing size of the middle class and shrinking working class gave the Conservatives a natural advantage.
- Thatcher’s attempt to become the ‘housewives’ friend’, with a focus on food prices, may have tempted more women to vote Conservatives.
- Cons won 41% of the C2 vote, up from 1% in 1974.
3
Q
1979 General Election
Valence issues
A
- Governing competency = wave of public-sector strikes in 1978-79 - voters punished Labour for not controlling trade union power.
- Economic competency = Labour became associated with high inflation.
- Party Unity = ‘Disunited’ Labour between its left-wing and its moderates.
4
Q
1979 General Election
Salient issues
A
- The extent to which the state should regulate and control industry became a key issue.
- Conservatives’ promise to expand home ownership was popular.
5
Q
1979 General Election
Election campaign
A
- Labour ran a poor election campaign, implying that the country shouldn’t elect a women.
- Conservatives responded with a slick, media-driven campaign which involved hiring the Saatchi Brothers - developed the ‘Labour isn’t working’ advert campaigns.
- Opinion polls showed that Labour might’ve won if they called the election before the wave of strikes.
6
Q
1979 General Election
Media influence
A
The Sun switched allegiance from Labour to Conservatives and ran the damning headline of ‘Crisis, what Crisis?’ when reporting on Labour leader’s Callaghan ‘blase’ attitude to industrial unrest.
7
Q
1997 General Election
Results
A
- Turnout = 71.3%.
- Labour’s landslide victory = 419 seats/187-seat majority.
- Conservatives lost 178 seats (worst election result since 1906).
- Lib Dems made a breakthrough, winning 46 seats.
- The effects of the electoral system exaggerated the scale of Labour’s victory, 43% of the vote converted into 63% of the seats.
8
Q
1997 General Election
Social Factors
A
- Labour won more than Con in nearly every demographic group - difficult to see a particular factor stand out.
- However, Blair appealed to the growing middle class with his ‘Third Way policies’ and won back the C2 skilled manual workers whom abandoned the party.
9
Q
1997 General Election
Valence issues
A
- Governing competency = Tories had been mired in several scandals, including the ‘arms to Iraq’ affair and the ‘cash for questions’ scandal.
- Economic competence = Labour worked hard to regain trust, promising to stick to Tory spending plans and not raise income tax.
- Party unity = Tory PM Major faced a leadership contest in 1995 and the party was divided over Europe.
- Party leaders = Blair was seen as a charismatic, dynamic leader while Major was seen as dull and uninspiring.
10
Q
1997 General Election
Salient issues
A
Public services - Labour promised to invest in education and health, and to be ‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of cirme’.
11
Q
1997 General Election
Electoral campaign
A
- Tory attempts to paint Blair as a socialist backfired with the ‘New Labour, New Danger campaign.
- While opinion polls narrowed towards the end, the lengthy campaign appeared to have little impact.
12
Q
1997 General Election
Media influence
A
- The Murdoch Press switched support from Conservatives to Labour.
- The Sun ran with the headline ‘The Sun backs Blair’.
13
Q
2019 GE
Results
A
- Turnout = 67.3%
- Conservatives won an 80-seat majority, ending 2 years of minority government.
- Labour reduced to just 203 seats - worst defeat since 1935.
- Lib Dem’s comeback failed to materialise, winning 11 seats (one fewer than in 2017).
- SNP dominated Scotland, winning 48/59 Scottish Seats and it comfortably remained the 3rd largest party in HOC.
14
Q
2019 GE
Social factors
A
- Regional divides appeared to play an important role in deciding the elections.
- Young typically voted to remain/Old to leave.
- Conservatives breached Labour’s ‘red wall’, winning seats in the North and Midlands that had been considered safe for generations.
- Tories benefitted from consolidating the Leave vote in areas that voted heavily to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum. Labour failed to do a similar thing in remain-voting areas.
15
Q
2019 GE
Valence issues
A
- Party Unity = removing the whip from Tory MPs who voted to block a no-deal Brexit, Boris Johnson led a GE campaign with his candidates who were united in his leave-EU approach.
- Economic competence = opinion polls showed that voters still didn’t trust Labour on the economy, particularly on his spending plans.
- Party Leaders = Corbyn’s failure to tackle anti-Semitism and was considered too on the fence regarding Brexit. Disliked Swinson (Lib Dem) because of her pledge to revoke Article 50 which appeared to contradict basic democratic principles.
