Voting Behaviour Flashcards
Intro
Voting Behaviour is important to political parties when trying to find out the outcome of an election, as they spend a lot of money on analysing the behaviour of their voters. Voting behaviour however is grouped into different models such as the rational choice model, party identification model, and sociological model. This essay will conclude that the rational choice model is the most relevant in the UK today.
rational choice model explain
The rational choice model focuses on people voting based on their own self-interest also known as “consumer voting.” This can be linked to the economy as there is a link between the performance of a government and the strength of the economy at the time with issues such as jobs and house prices.
rational choice model example
For example, in 2010 and 2015 the economy was identified as the most critical issue in voters’ minds. So, David Camerons long term economic plan helped win both times.
rational choice model rebuttal
However, the party was associated for a long time with the 2008 financial crisis and recession which followed. Many believed that labour mismanaged the economy by overspending on public services without raising taxes sufficiently.
rational choice model analysis/ conclusion
This caused many working-class voters to turn away for labour and towards David Camerons conservative party. This shows that rationally people chose to turn away from a party who they deemed to have put them in a poor financial position. This suggests the rational choice model is relevant in explaining voting behaviour in the UK as it would affect all people in Britain rather than specific group.
rational choice model part2 explain
Whilst key issues remain important to voters, the rational choice model believes that leaders can sometimes misjudge the publics mood when conducting an election campaign and lose support. This may be because they underestimate voters and speak in too many interviews which can make them look quite fake with no personality.
rational choice model example 2
For example, in 2017 Theresa May in 2017 who failed to capture the public’s imagination with her constant ‘strong and stable’ sound bite, awful conservative party conference speech, and her lack of empathy towards the Grenfell tower incident.
rational choice model rebuttal 2
However, the leader’s image does not always mean ap party will perform well or poorly, as seen during the 2017 campaign with Jeremy Corbyn performing surprisingly well in the election seeing many young voters choosing to vote labour despite him being portrayed poorly by the media. Theresa May was expected to easily beat Corbyn but instead reduced the conservatives party majority by 13, which meant they had to rely on DUP support to pass legislation.
rational choice conclusion 2
This suggests that other issues can be more important rather than the party leaders’ image when voters cast their votes.
the sociological model class explain
The sociological model of voting behaviour is the theory that people vote according to the bigger sections of society they are part of, such as: social class, age or gender which are thought to have a significant impact on how people vote in elections. Social class is thought to be a significant factor on who people vote for, as historically working-class people voted labour and middle-upper class tended to vote for the conservatist party because each party has policies which benefit each class.
the sociological model class example
For example, in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum the four most deprived council areas (Glasgow, Dundee, North Lanarkshire, and West Dumbartonshire) were the only areas that voted yes, whereas middle-class areas like East Renfrewshire overwhelmingly voted no at 63.2%.
the sociological model class rebuttal/ conclusion
However, it could be argued that social class is becoming less significant in determining how people vote as seen in the 2024 election since labour received the highest voter share across all social classes. This shows that social class is less important now as a predictor of voter’s behaviour and that other factors may be more of an influence.
the sociological model gender explain
A further area that could be influential to how people cast their vote is gender. Gender difference in British politics is that women are more likely to vote for labour as it offers greater support for welfare and families which women are more likely to benefit from. Whereas men are likely to earn a higher wage than women which could result in them voting conservative due to their policies on lower tax.
the sociological model gender example
For example, in 201 toured a “woman to woman” battle bus across the country to encourage women who had not voted in the previous election to participate in this one.
the sociological model gender analysis
This suggests that gender can play a role in determining voting behaviour as women are less likely to vote and, when they do, may choose different parties to men due to their financial circumstances.
the sociological model gender rebuttal
However, it can argue that the impact of gender is not as important as other sociological factors such as age. This is due to the school of economics found that there were some differences in how men and women vote, but these were more noticeable when breaking it down into age groupings.
the sociological model gender rebuttal example
For example, younger women were 16.5% more supportive of labour than young men, and young men were 14.5% more supportive of the conservatives than young women. In contrast, older women were 12% more supportive of the conservatists than older men, but then olde men were twice as likely to vote for UKIP.
the sociological model gender conclusion
This suggests that voting behaviour changes as voters grow older regardless of their gender, which therefore means age is a more significant sociological factor when it comes to voting behaviour
overall conclusion
Overall, the Rational choice model is becoming a much more relevant factor in determining voter behaviour in British politics. This is due to the fact voters are casting their cotes for individual ‘rational’ reasons that affect their everyday lives instead of whatever social class they fall under, or their gender. If people continue to vote this way by being increasingly interested in their individual issues and personality politics, it could lead to a more diverse political landscape.
