Voting Behaviour

Question 1

What are voting behaviour models

Answer 1

models on how electors choose what party and what candidate they cast their vote for

Question 2

What is psephology

Answer 2

political science studying the way that people vote

Question 3

What are the primacy and recency factors

Answer 3

primacy are long term (class, age and ethnicity)

Recency - short term (campaigns, leaders)

Question 4

What is the social structure model of voting behaviour

Answer 4

• importance of social groups in determining groups in which people vote in
• shared interest across groups are impactful

Question 5

What is the party identification model of voting behaviour

Answer 5

• feeling of being represented by a party
• working class seen to vote for Labour Party
• Voters become attached to party

Question 6

What do we mean by ‘social class’

Answer 6

social class is the affluence of a person defined by income and form of employment

Question 7

What evidence is there of class and party dealignment

Answer 7

• lower membership of political parties
• rise of third parties and independent candidate
• greater swing and churn

Question 8

What factors might be causing class and partisan dealignment

Answer 8

• social media
• class dealignment
• increased social mobility

Question 9

Why is it difficult to make assumptions about the votes of an entire demographic

Answer 9

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

Question 10

influence of Gender on voting behaviour

Answer 10

post 1970 a higher % of tory voters have been women and higher % of labour voters were men. Theory of trade unions

Question 11

Influence of Ethnicity on voting behaviour

Answer 11

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.

Question 11

influence of Age on voting behaviour

Answer 11

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

Question 12

influence of region on voting behaviour

Answer 12

north south divide

partisan alignment with labours red wall

north south divide sees south producing most tory MP’s

Question 13

What is swing

Answer 13

movement of voters from one party to another

Question 14

What is churn

Answer 14

voters switching from one party to another with equal overall switching so overall vote levels being the same.

Question 15

What is rational choice model of voting behaviour

Answer 15

short term factors lead voters to make a conscious decision which is self interpreted

Question 16

What is the spatial model of voting behaviour

Answer 16

divisive issue which reasonable people can disagree on

Question 17

What is salient issues

Answer 17

most important issues in an election campaign

all people feel that these issues should be tackled- immigration, crime, taxation, economy,

Question 18

How are valence issues different to positional issues

Answer 18

valiance issues reasonable people agree on unlike issues where there is no consensus which are positional

Question 19

What is the valence model of voting behaviour

Answer 19

issues with universal agreement on what goals the government should pressure

Question 20

What factors influence valence voters

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Why could ‘rational choice’ voting still be shaped by long term factors

Answer 21

Labours handling of the financial crisis has left a poor lingering financial reputation

Question 22

What is the dominant ideology model

Answer 22

Voters’ ideologies are heavily influenced by ideology of elites and elites share their view through the media where they have control over the media

Question 23

What are the rules for broadcasting and print media

Answer 23

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

Question 24

What concerns are there over the ownership of UK newspapers

Answer 24

‘Son wot won it’ was the 1992 headline after the Suns support of the conservative party was seen to be influential.

Question 25

What is cognitive dissonance

Answer 25

Term used to identify feeling against press and media which disagrees with personal political viewpoint

Question 26

What are selective exposure, selective perception, and selective retention

Answer 26

Selective exposure- only seeing stuff that compounds opinions

Selective perception- interpreting facts that doesn’t contrast held beliefs

selective retention- remembering things which fit with our beliefs

Question 27

What is the direct effect theory of media influence

Answer 27

media directly affects the way we think

Question 28

What is the framing theory of media influencing

Answer 28

changes the presentation of issues to change what we think about them

Question 29

What is reinforcement theory of media influence

Answer 29

reinforces already held political beliefs

Question 30

What is the voting context model of voting behaviour

Answer 30

argues that voting behaviour will change depending on the type of election and the circumstances facing the electorate

Question 31

What factors might explain the very different results in general elections in EU elections

Answer 31

type of election
candiate or party
profile of election
electoral system being used

Question 32

What are by - elections and when are they held

Answer 32

elections to fill MP seats during a parliamentary term

Question 33

Why is voting behaviour usually so different in by-elections to UK elections

Answer 33

bi-elections much more based around protest voting and are a ‘review’ of a government

lower turnout

Question 34

Why was there such a large swing in the 2014 Clacton election

Answer 34

UKIP won the seat from the conservatives however it was the same candidate.

while a by-election doesn’t have to be triggered when a MP defects however when the MP defected.

Question 35

Why is tactical voting and why is it more common in safer seats rather than margial seats

Answer 35

voting for a particular candidate who isn’t your first choice candidate to either elect a different candidate who has a change of defeating a less preferable candidate.

Question 36

How are exit polls different to normal opinion polls

Answer 36

Opinion polls are polls taken during an election to inform a potential outcome and test the mood. Exit polls are taken on election day on the opinion of people who are voting that day to pre empt the outcome

Question 37

What are the bandwagon and boomerang effects

Answer 37

bandwagon- undecided voters joining and supporting the likely winner of the election

boomerang- voters sympathising with the loosing party and joining them

polls can influence these