UK Politics - Voting Behaviour And The Media Flashcards
What social factors may influence the way in which people vote?
Age, gender, ethnicity, class, religion, profession, education, religion, sexuality
What are the different social class status’?
AB - upper class and upper middle class with ‘A’ being aristocracy to judges, company executives) down to ‘B’ being doctors, lawyers and teachers
C1 - lower middle class (white collar workers such as secretaries, bank clerks etc)
C2 - ‘skilled’ working class (plumbers, builders, mechanics)
DE - ‘unskilled’ working class (factory workers, manual labourers, farm workers, cleaners)
Until the 1970s, how had different social classes voted?
Most working class people voted Labour, middle and upper class people voted for conservative and the Liberals had a middle class following
What changed after 1970s regarding how social classes voted?
People born into working class families are now more likely to go to university, get better paid professions and become middle class
What is class de-alignment?
When individuals are less likely to identify with a particular social class, so therefore less likely to be expected to vote in a certain way
How did the UK vote in recent elections based off of gender?
- In 2024 - 34% of males voted Labour compared to 23% for conservative, whilst 35% of females voted for labour compared to 26% for conservative. Most female labour votes came from 18-24 year olds (45%) and 25-34 year olds (47%) however most female conservative voters were over the age of 55 (40%)
- in 2019, among 18-24 year old voters, just 17% of women voted for conservative and 64% voted labour, whereas 22% of men aged 18-24 voted conservative and 64% voted labour
How did the UK vote in recent elections based off of age in 2019 and 2024?
- in 2019 (out of 41,995 adults who voted), in 18-24s, 56% voted Labour and 21% voted conservatives, in 25-29s, 54% voted Labour and 23% voted conservatives, in 60-69s, 57% voted conservatives and 22% voted labour
- in 2024, out of 18-24 year olds, 41% voted Labour, 5% voted conservative and 16% voted Lib Dem’s, out of those who are 65+, only 23% voted labour, whilst 43% voted conservatives
How did the UK vote in recent elections based off of social class?
How did the UK vote in recent elections based off of Education in the 2024 general election?
- no qualifications - 28% voted Labour, 39% voted conservatives, 18% voted reform
- other types of qualifications - 30% voted labour, 32% voted conservatives, 13% voted reform
- degree or higher - 43% voted Labour, 19% voted conservatives, 7% voted reform
How did the UK vote in recent elections based off of Employment status in the 2017 general election?
52,615 UK adults who voted in 2017:
- retired - 63% conservative, 24% labour
- working part time - 40% conservative, 44% labour
- working full time - 39% conservative, 45% labour
- not working - 36% conservative, 54% labour
- unemployed - 28% conservative, 54% labour
- full time students - 19% conservative, 64% labour
How did the UK vote in recent elections based off of ethnicity?
Why do Conservatives gain many votes from females?
They do especially well with ‘Stevenage women’ who are in their mid 40s, with kids, high bills to pay and full time working. They believe all governments are the same but are worried about finances and need protection
What is a valence factor?
The relative success or failure of a governments policies. Voters who vote according to valence factors are making their decision based on wether they like government performance
What are the different Behaviour Voting Theories?
Rational voter choice theory - voters are able to make a rational choice through manifestos and policy
Governing competency theory - how competent/incompetent and government/opposition is can influence votes
Economic voting model - where voters are influenced based on how the current economy is
Party leadership model - voters are influenced based off of party leaders
Why were the 1992, 2010 and 2017 party campaigns significant in the elections?
- in 1992, John Major’s decision to abandon stage-managed events and take his soap-box to town centres contrasted Neil Kinnock’s over confident Sheffield Rally, which gave conservative and unexpected win
- in 2017, Jeremy Corbyn’s optimistic rally and manifesto commitments such as ending tuition fees contrasted to Theresa May’s uninspiring campaign in which she introduced ’dementia tax’, which allowed Labour to go from 30% support prior to the election to 40% after it
- in 2019, Labour failed to inspire with their manifesto saying that the UK’s EU withdrawal should be renegotiated, wanting to push for another referendum, whilst Boris wanted to ‘get Brexit done’ therefore gaining more support
What is ‘dementia tax’?
It pledged that elderly people receiving care who had over £100,000 of assets,would have the excess of it contributed to their care after death
What governments have been successful due to competence?
- in 1983, MT’s government successfully brought inflation down, fulfilling the manifesto commitment. As well, her leadership in the falklands war in 1982 and her cabinet unity helped
What governments have been unsuccessful due to incompetence?
- In 1979, James Callaghan proved unable to stop the escalation of strikes during the winter of discontent which was made worse as he misquoted on the topic in the press. This showed incompetence as it cause swing voters to go with MT
- in February 1974, Edward heath called a snap election in response to the miners’ strike which threatened industrial disruption
- in 2024, partygate, the struggle to remain with one leader and the scandal Matt Handcock faced
What party leaders were successful in gaining support?
- Margaret thatcher in the 1983 election gained a reputation for a strong and focused leadership which contrasted with Michael Foot’s left wing intellectualism which didn’t expand much outside of core voters
- the impact of Nigel farage in 2015 with UKIP around issues like immigration appealed greatly to the working class and took away potential labour voters, helping the Tory’s win marginal seats
- in 2015, an effective snp campaign resulted in labour losing 40 seats north of the border
What party leaders were unsuccessful in gaining support?
In the 2015 election, Ed Miliband had built a 9ft stone in public with his campaign promises in order to build himself a greater stature, however it was said to be the ‘heaviest suicide note in history’
Who was the 1979 General election between?
James Callaghan & Margaret Thatcher
Who won the 1979 General Election?
Margaret Thatcher (conservative)
Why was James Callaghan’s government incompetent at the time?
- he lost a confidence vote in the HOC (311/310) in March 1979 which forced him to call and immediate general election
- he had only achieved power through a minority and so his government lacked legitimacy as he had to form a coalition with the Liberals and nationalist parties
- the public felt he was undermining trade unions demands for higher pay
What nickname was given to Callaghan?
He was named as having a ‘Grandfather like image’ and as being a ‘sunny Jim’
How did the winter prior to this election contribute to Callaghan’s defeat?
It was known as the ‘winter of discontent’ in which a series of strikes took place from public sector workers who refused to accept his 5% pay gap
How did Media coverage contribute to Callaghan’s defeat in 1979?
Whilst abroad on a trip, he had dismissed a question by an interviewer claiming that the country had been in chaos. Following this, the sun’s headline was: ‘crisis, what crisis?’ which made it look as though he wasn’t taking the country’s state seriously
How did the 1979 Conservative campaign contribute to their Victory?
- they focused on Labour’s inability to control excessive demands from trade unions and employment
- they also emphasised that they were a party of ‘social unity’, and positive press coverage surrounded MT and the idea that she would offer fresh support and approach to the trade unions resonated with votes
What were the key areas of Policy in the 1979 conservative manifesto?
- Margaret thatcher adopted the nickname as the ‘iron lady’ and her policies were the curb to power they had as she believed labour was leading the country to a standstill
- they said they would strike a balance of trade unions to end the winter of discontent
- they wanted to push for people to become home owners, supporting family life
- they wanted to uphold parliament to the rule of law
What were the key areas of Policy in the 1979 Labour manifesto?
- they aimed to keep a ‘curb’ on inflation and prices as well as improving industrial relations that they hammered out with the TUC
What was the turnout and why was it so high for the 1979 election?
Due to a tight conservative poll which encouraged the tory electorate to vote
Why did conservatives gain so many Liberal votes in the 1979 election?
The former liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe was on trial for conspiracy to moderate his ex-lover and this further damaged relations between him and his voters
What were the results of the 1979 election?
Conservatives got 339 seats (43.9% of popular vote), labour got 269 seats (36.9% of the popular vote) and liberals got 11 seats (13.8% of popular vote)
How did conservatives take away some labour voters?
They focused more on offering a defining response to the issues of TU’s
How did the C2 class vote in the 1979 election?
41% voted for conservative which was a 15% increase from 1974, 41% voted for labour which was an 8% decrease and only 15% voted for liberals which was a 5% decrease
How did the DE class vote in the 1979 election?
34% voted conservatives which was a 12% increase from 1974, 49% voted labour which was an 8% decrease and Lib Dem’s got 13%, showing this election showed a huge increase in class dealignment
How was John Major’s government incompetent prior to the 1997 election?
- They faced scandals such as the cash for questions and accusations of sleaze
- they had internal party divisions due to the fact major couldn’t control the eurosceptic faction in the party
- prior economic recessions and unemployment rising to 3.1mn in 1981
- the ‘winter of discontent’ led to strikes against Tory
What was ‘cash for questions’?
Two Tory backbenchers were alleged to have accepted payments via a lobbyist in return for asking questions in the House of Commons
Why was Labour’s 1997 campaign successful?
- their idea and image was revamped to present voters with traditional values in a modern setting
- Tony Blair followed US president Clinton’s lead by setting up a rapid rebuttal unit
How was the Tory campaign in 1997 unsuccessful?
They were labelled as the ‘nasty party’ and John major was mocked in cartoons and on tv satirical shows as being grey and uncharismatic
Why was the 1997 Conservative manifesto not appealing?
They didn’t represent where the UK was as most women worked and John major wanted to continue previous policies based off of giving citizens control and reducing the role of the state, showing him as uncharismatic
What were Tony Blair’s appealing policies in the 1997 manifesto?
- no rise in income tax rates
- cut VAT on heating to 5%
- cut the NHS waiting list by 100000
- keep a low and stable inflation of 2.5% or less
- they promised to enforce the ‘golden rule’ of public spending - borrowing to invest and not fund current expenditure
What was John Major’s most eye catching policy?
The tax allowance proposal to encourage traditional nuclear families, where a non-working partner could pass their tax free allowance to their working spouse
