media and influences on voting Flashcards
how has class influenced voting? and why would class dealignment take place?
in the 70’s people would be influenced to vote based on what class they were, working class people would vote for labour and more middle class people would vote for the Conservative Party. This would be due to the Labour Party having strong influences on trade unions.
though, in recent years this has changed and there has been a process know as class dealignment. Though, it is important to note that there has never been a clear cut for example patriotic and royalist working classes might vote for the Conservative Party. other than which party they are likely to reside with, it is also more likely that people who are richer will vote for example in 2010. 76% of the two highest classes voted compared to 56% of the two lowest classes.
class realignment would take place because more people aspired to be like the middle class, for example a number of council houses would be sold to their tenants, labour was also able to appeal to the middle classes in 1997.
what is partisan dealingment and how has effected society?
this is where people feel less connected to the two largest parties, more people swap between the two parties or are more likely to feel aligned with the smaller parties for example people may feel more inclined to vote for the liberal democrats, in 210 just 65% of people cast their vote for the two larger parties.
what is rational choice theory and why is it significant?
this is the idea that voters behave like consumers and that they decide how they vote based on what is best for them as an indiviudial, for example people are likely to ask themselves questions such as who is the best potential prime minister among the available party leaders?
people would change to align with more left-wing beliefs in 1997 when they were concerned with the poor management of the John Major. people would take note of the governing competency of the main parties, for example they may take note of their policy success, 2008 saw the global financial crisis which put gordon brown in bad shape. there has also been the growing presidentilisation of British politics where the leaders become increasingly more important, this is an aspect where Gordon Brown would fail.
how does gender affect voting behaviours?
historically, women were more likely to vote for the conservative party and it is likely that this is because they identified with their traditional attitudes.
in the 1990’s this would change and women were just as likely to vote labour, this is likely to do with their growing influence on the work force.
in 2010, 30% of women aged 18-24 would vote conservative compared to 42% for women over 55, which displays the disparity in age.
there is a slight difference in turnout for example 66% of men voted compared to 64% of women in 2010.
There would be the same pattern in both 2015/2019, when gender would have little affect over they way that people would vote, for example
how does age affect voting behaviour?
older people are more likely to vote conservative this may be because of their more traditional beliefs and the fact that they are more likely to own property, they may still have a coloured opinion of the labour of the 1970;s. in 2010 44% of people aged over 65 would vote conservative compared to 30% of young people- the age disparity can be explained in policy where labour and liberal democrats would campaign for the removal of the winter fuel allowance for well-off old people. adding to this, the older generation are also more likely to vote which may signify why their vote is more important, 76% of people aged over 65 voted compared to 44% of young people.
How does ethnicity affect the results of votes?
Ethnic minorities are more inclined to vote for the Labour Party, this may be the link to labour’s stance on immigration and this group may be more inclined to have lower-wage jobs.
in 2010, BAME people were more inclined to vote labour 60 to 16% . also, often BAME people will turnout less for example they would turn out 51% compared to 67% of white people.
how does someone’s region affect the way that they vote?
this is often link to differences in class, likely more prosperous areas in rural areas or in the south will vote for the Conservative Party, this is compared to more urban areas that will vote labour, typically this is the pattern seen in London.
there is also an affect on turnout that this can have, as in the southern parts of the uk around 68.5% of people voted computed to the less affluent north-west that would turnout at 62.6%
what is the influence that media has in politics?
many people now have easy access to the media and can easily access this on their phone. Though, it’s television that really dominates elections, in 2010 it was predicted that 9.6 million people watched the first leader’s debate. however, in the 2017 general election there was just 3.5 million views that watched the debate.
there are also specific newspapers that will endorse specific parties, for example in 2015 the sun would endorse the Conservative Party and the guardian the Labour Party.
how do opinions polls influence the way that people vote?
there are polls that are done both before and after people have voted with exit polls predicting the way that people will vote.
Though, they may not always be accurate in 1992 they would fail to predict that John major would have a 21 seat majority, instead a hung parliament would be predicted. This was due to a boomerang effect where polls had shown labour in the lead, this would cause people to not vote for the Labour Party.
this would happen again in 2015 where polls would not predict the Conservative Party to gain a majority and rather they would each get a 34% share with the labour party.
this would be because the polls had not polled people who truly represented the UK, for example they would not poll enough retired people. This is compared to 2024 where a labour landslide was predicted.
What has been the impact of changing types of media?
The internet would play a key role in the 2010 elections as around 80% of people would have access to the internet this would mean that MP’s would make changes like having their own website. Social media would also play a huge part as the conservatives would spend £100,000 a month on social media advertising. This would help parties to connect with the youth a pole would find that in 2015 79% of young people would solely rely on online resources to make decisions about who they wanted to vote for. 59% would also use platforms like social media to understand people’s opinions on politics. Press and newspaper would still hold a major significance in 2015 and conservative supporting newspapers would claim that a vote not for Cameron would risk putting a weak government in place. Another key importance of the media is that governments will make announcements from television studios, highlighting the importance of the use of the media- this was seen in Covid.
What are the key debates around bias and persuasion in the media?
The media in a Democratic society- it is vital that the media will play a key role in holding the government to accountsion
Though in 2011 there was the notorious phone hacking scandal, this
would be inva of peoples authority including key politicians.
Media bias and political parties- key newspapers will change their political affiliation for example the sun started as a supporter of the labour party and would change to the Conservative Party in the 1990’s. Television is less biased as it must be balanced, the BBC insists on political neutrality.
How much influence do the media have on the public?
The power of the media should not be denied as the Conservative Party in 2010/15 would be supported by all of the major press. The press may not wholly affect political opinion but it may help to sway people or allow people to understand the news of the day. Though, it is clear that people value TV more with 62% of people saying that they preferred it to the press in the run up to the 2015 election. Filling the TV debate of 2010 Nick Clegg would have his opinions polls boosted, this displays that TV can change the opinions of people.
The media can be said to reinforce rather than change political attitude.
what are the different theories about how people vote?
party identification theory- this is where people feel that they identify to a specific party, these levels were as low as 13% by 2001.
Sociological theory- this is how social class affects how you vote.
Rational choice theory- where people based on what would benefit them best.
Dominant ideology theory- this is where you may b influenced by media.
what role did polls play in the 2015 election?
the polls would suggest that the two major parties would be in a very tight race.
some voters may have voted tactically, many liberal democrat leaders may have voted for the conservative.s
conservatives may have voted for fear of labour.
Labour voters may have voted for a small party if they thought that labour would win.
People may have been more willing to vote for UKIP or the SNP.
the polls would get the predictions wrong like 1992, this may have been because people relied on polling,
what are the key statistics for the 2024 general election?
Labour would win a 412 seat majority and the Conservative Party would have only 121 seats, a deduction of 251 seats, the Liberal democrats would also face a huge win as they would become the third largest party in the UK, the other huge win would come from the reform party who would gain 4 seats and would see Nigel Farage become an MP for the first time.
There was a large disparity between the votes that were cast and the seats that would actually be won, Labour would win 34% of all the votes yet they would gain 64% of all the seats. Yet, this would be different for the reform party whom would get 14% of all the votes and just 1% of the seats. This different in vote share would be the largest that was ever seen, though there was the opportunity to change this in 2011 with AV.
The rise in reform which has risen by 16 points is largely to explain for the sharp decline in the Cons party. In places like Clacton where a large number of people would vote to leave, there would be a high number of reform votes. This was the second lowest turnout since 1885 where only 60% of people voted.
There was also the rise of the independent vote, Labour would lose key seats where there is a large muslim population that is most notable in Leicester south.
