Voting Behaviour Flashcards
What are voting behaviour models
models on how electors choose what party and what candidate they cast their vote for
What is psephology
political science studying the way that people vote
What are the primacy and recency factors
primacy are long term (class, age and ethnicity)
Recency - short term (campaigns, leaders)
What is the social structure model of voting behaviour
- importance of social groups in determining groups in which people vote in
- shared interest across groups are impactful
What is the party identification model of voting behaviour
- feeling of being represented by a party
- working class seen to vote for Labour Party
- Voters become attached to party
What do we mean by ‘social class’
social class is the affluence of a person defined by income and form of employment
What evidence is there of class and party dealignment
- lower membership of political parties
- rise of third parties and independent candidate
- greater swing and churn
What factors might be causing class and partisan dealignment
- social media
- class dealignment
- increased social mobility
Why is it difficult to make assumptions about the votes of an entire demographic
voters belong to multiple demographics- members of the same gender can belong to different social groups. this would lead to a variation in how that demographic would vote
influence of Gender on voting behaviour
post 1970 a higher % of tory voters have been women and higher % of labour voters were men. Theory of trade unions
Influence of Ethnicity on voting behaviour
tory has strongest support amount white voters while labour has the strongest support among ethnic minorities
perhaps this is becuause labour has a historic record of focusing more on shared rights while the tories have more focus on immigration.
influence of Age on voting behaviour
older voters have more interest in economic preservation due to higher property wealth which is a reason for their vote for the conservative party
younger voters have more interest in progressive and equality based policy
influence of region on voting behaviour
north south divide
partisan alignment with labours red wall
north south divide sees south producing most tory MP’s
What is swing
movement of voters from one party to another
What is churn
voters switching from one party to another with equal overall switching so overall vote levels being the same.
What is rational choice model of voting behaviour
short term factors lead voters to make a conscious decision which is self interpreted
What is the spatial model of voting behaviour
divisive issue which reasonable people can disagree on
What is salient issues
most important issues in an election campaign
all people feel that these issues should be tackled- immigration, crime, taxation, economy,
How are valence issues different to positional issues
valiance issues reasonable people agree on unlike issues where there is no consensus which are positional
What is the valence model of voting behaviour
issues with universal agreement on what goals the government should pressure
What factors influence valence voters
competency
- competence and positive media coverage of party and its leafer
- 2010 Nick Clegg appeared most competent in the 3 way debate with Ed and David
Why could ‘rational choice’ voting still be shaped by long term factors
Labours handling of the financial crisis has left a poor lingering financial reputation
What is the dominant ideology model
Voters’ ideologies are heavily influenced by ideology of elites and elites share their view through the media where they have control over the media
What are the rules for broadcasting and print media
broadcasting can have no public bias and must have fair coverage of all countries
newspapers have bias- sun mirror supports labour and Telegraph and Times usually supports conservatives
