The Factors Which Influence Voting Behaviour, Including Class, Age and Media Flashcards
Print Media
Newspapers are unlikely to influence voting behaviour
John Curtice said that while “newspapers do influence some individuals, impact in aggregate is close to zero”
The Daily Record only sells 61,000 copies daily. Across the UK, newspaper sales have halved from 2010 at 22m to 2018 at 10.4m
Broadcast Media
Must be neutral
Party Political Broadcasts are used by parties and have ‘considerable’ influence on the public although Alastair Campbell said they’re still important but less important than previously
In 2010, Nick Clegg won the leaders debate yet lost 5 MPs and only gained 1% of the vote.
A YouGov poll found that while 70% of people believe leaders debates should exist, only 39% think they’re influential
Social Media
Political parties spend significant amounts here - £1.6m was spent online in the 2015 election
The 2015 and 2017 elections were described as the social media elections but the more traditional methods were more influential
Social media has not been found to have any significant impact yet
Social Class
YouGov stated class is no longer a reliable indicator of how a person will vote
John Curtice came to the conclusion that the bond between labour and its traditional working class base is now badly strained
Social Class Turnout
East Dumbartonshire is an affluent constituency with low unemployment and low free school lunch entitlement. Their turnout is the highest in the UK with 80% turning out to vote
North East Glasgow, an area of high deprivation has a turnout of 55%, one of the lowest in the UK
Social Class Media
Broadsheet papers (The Times) tend to have more in depth analysis and read by ABC1
Tabloids tend to be more gossip based and read by people from C2DE
Age
Age is more important than social class now as Labour is stronger with 18-24 year olds compared to over 65s voting conservative
The cross over age from Labour to conservative was 39
Age and Turnout
The 2018 British Election Survey said that youth turnout had very little impact on the results
The age 25-29 group was most likely to turnout
Ipsos-MORI noted that voter turnout had increased in most age groups but decreased in age 65+
Age and Referenda
In the 2014 independence referendum, those aged 55+ were more likely to vote no with younger people more likely to vote yes
A Commons Briefing Paper on the 2016 Brexit Referendum said that there wasn’t a strong link between age and voting behaviour in this referendum.
