Individual voting behaviour

Question 1

Valance factors

Answer 1

Judgements made on a governments performance of whether it was largely successful or a failure

Question 2

What are the valance factors ?

Answer 2

• Governing competency
• Leadership
• Opposition leaders
• Campaign
• Popularity of party leader

Question 3

Partisan and class dealignmnet

Answer 3

• Individuals become less loyal to one particular party

- There are no longer any clear classes

Question 4

Governing competency

Answer 4

Successful governments :
1959 = Macmillan increased the con majority to over 100 and took advantage over living standard raises
1983 = Thatchers success in the Falklands war showed her strength as a leader

Failures of Governments :
- 1979 = Callaghans inability to stop strikes during the winter of discontent

Question 5

Leadership

Answer 5

• This is the image that the party leader projects and presents themselves
• 1983 : Thatcher was seen as strong compared to Foot who looked his 70 years
• Blair was seen as young and charismatic

Question 6

Opposition leaders

Answer 6

• Sometimes opposition leaders can generate support by capturing the mood of the nation eg 1997 Blair VS Foot
• Opposition leaders can also fail to engage the public eg 2015 Miliband failed to persuade voters he had the strength to be PM (statue unveiling of his policies caused it to be called the heaviest suicide note in history

Question 7

Popularity of the party leader

Answer 7

• Indicates they are likely to win support for their party and increase the vote share
• 2015 : Farage succeeded in making immigration a huge issue

Question 8

The campaign

Answer 8

• campaigns need to extend to a wide range of people

Success :
2017 = Corbyns optimistic rallies increased labours support

Failures : 1997 = Major went for a long campaign and still lost

Question 9

The manifesto

Answer 9

• Explains the party’s policies and engages the public
• 2 labour manifestos helped the conservative win (1992 increasing public spending and 1987 didn’t commit to a nuclear deterrent)
• 2017 = labour committed to abolish tuition fees

Question 10

Issue/instrumental voting

Answer 10

• We make decisions based on the manifestos and how they think decisions will be made on particular issues eg 2015 immigration was a large issue (UKIP 12.6%)