Voting Behaviour Flashcards

1
Q

What are voting behaviour models

A

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

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2
Q

What is psephology

A

political science studying the way that people vote

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3
Q

What are the primacy and recency factors

A

primacy are long term (class, age and ethnicity)

Recency - short term (campaigns, leaders)

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4
Q

What is the social structure model of voting behaviour

A
  • importance of social groups in determining groups in which people vote in
  • shared interest across groups are impactful
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5
Q

What is the party identification model of voting behaviour

A
  • feeling of being represented by a party
  • working class seen to vote for Labour Party
  • Voters become attached to party
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6
Q

What do we mean by ‘social class’

A

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

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7
Q

What evidence is there of class and party dealignment

A
  • lower membership of political parties
  • rise of third parties and independent candidate
  • greater swing and churn
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8
Q

What factors might be causing class and partisan dealignment

A
  • social media
  • class dealignment
  • increased social mobility
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9
Q

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

A

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

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10
Q

influence of Gender on voting behaviour

A

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

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11
Q

Influence of Ethnicity on voting behaviour

A

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.

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11
Q

influence of Age on voting behaviour

A

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

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12
Q

influence of region on voting behaviour

A

north south divide

partisan alignment with labours red wall

north south divide sees south producing most tory MP’s

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13
Q

What is swing

A

movement of voters from one party to another

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14
Q

What is churn

A

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

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15
Q

What is rational choice model of voting behaviour

A

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

16
Q

What is the spatial model of voting behaviour

A

divisive issue which reasonable people can disagree on

17
Q

What is salient issues

A

most important issues in an election campaign

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

18
Q

How are valence issues different to positional issues

A

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

19
Q

What is the valence model of voting behaviour

A

issues with universal agreement on what goals the government should pressure

20
Q

What factors influence valence voters

A

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

21
Q

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

A

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

22
Q

What is the dominant ideology model

A

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

23
Q

What are the rules for broadcasting and print media

A

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

24
What concerns are there over the ownership of UK newspapers
'Son wot won it' was the 1992 headline after the Suns support of the conservative party was seen to be influential.
25
What is cognitive dissonance
Term used to identify feeling against press and media which disagrees with personal political viewpoint
26
What are selective exposure, selective perception, and selective retention
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
27
What is the direct effect theory of media influence
media directly affects the way we think
28
What is the framing theory of media influencing
changes the presentation of issues to change what we think about them
29
What is reinforcement theory of media influence
reinforces already held political beliefs
30
What is the voting context model of voting behaviour
argues that voting behaviour will change depending on the type of election and the circumstances facing the electorate
31
What factors might explain the very different results in general elections in EU elections
type of election candiate or party profile of election electoral system being used
32
What are by - elections and when are they held
elections to fill MP seats during a parliamentary term
33
Why is voting behaviour usually so different in by-elections to UK elections
bi-elections much more based around protest voting and are a 'review' of a government lower turnout
34
Why was there such a large swing in the 2014 Clacton election
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.
35
Why is tactical voting and why is it more common in safer seats rather than margial seats
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.
36
How are exit polls different to normal opinion polls
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
37
What are the bandwagon and boomerang effects
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