Voting Behaviour Flashcards
Dominant Media Ideology
Newspapers
In the 2020 US Presidential election, Biden won the endorsement of 47 of top 100 US daily newspapers (he won the election), compared to in the U.K. 5 of the top 10 selling daily newspapers endorsed the Conservative Party (Conservatives won) in the 2019 UK General Election.
Big influence but not most
Sociological Theories U.K. - Aus
2019 General Election 42% of ABC1 and 42% of c2de vote for Conservative
However in 2019 33% C2de still voted for Labour compared to 28% of ABC1 despite Conservatives being pro Brexit party in 2019 where Brexit was a huge issue where about 2/3 of the working class voted for Brexit.
> Working class voters are much more likely to vote Labor than middle class voters (working class: 41%; 2019
Age UK US
Sociological
Age
2019 56% of 18-24 year olds voted Labour compared to in the US 62% of 18-24 years olds voted for Biden 2020
S
S
Party ID Scotland - US percentage
1% change in number of Asain Americans voting for Democrat presidential candidate 2016-2020
the 2019 election, SNP retained 87% of the vote from the previous general Election.
Experts
Andrew Haywood
“Sociological model” does focus “on social group” and “ignores the individual and role of personal self interest.”
Andrew Haywood
A “weakness” of party identification theory is “the growing evidence from a number of countries of partisan dealignment”
Rational Choice Theory- Ivor Crewe once remarked, “votes are up for grabs”. Suggesting Polticians can influence voters with good policies and not everyone aligned to a party.
Party ID From seats
SNP dominated Scottish Poltics and won 48 of 59 Scottish seats in 2019 compared to 35 in 2017
In 2020 the US presidential election proved this is not always the case. Biden managed to flip 5 states that Trump previously won in 2016
Party ID definition
Another theory which aims to explain voting behaviour is party identification theory. This is an individual, phycological, identification with a party or leader, based on image rather than policy, which makes people naturally gravitate towards a party.
E.g SNP - Scottish - patriotic Scots like them and independence because of that
Rational Choice facts
65% of Leavers voting Conservative - 2019 U.K.
Election
79% of Trump voters believed immigration was a very important issue at the 2016 us election compared to Trump promised to build a wall on the border.
Counter with sociological stats
LofA
Sociological Groupings because
Clear differences in how ages and social classes votes and race
Dominat Ideology U.K. Aus
Aussie media bias towards liberal party
(the Liberal Party is a right wing party) who won 44% of the vote (the most) in the 2019
Australian election compared to the Conservatives (who the media favour too) who won also
44% of the vote which was the most.
