Voting behaviour and the media Flashcards
What are social factors?
class, age, gender, ethnicity, geographic region
What impact do social factors have on social factors?
Positions target policies to key groups in order to win an election
What is AB classification?
higher professional occupations
What is C1 classification?
professional occupation
What is C2 classification?
skilled manual occupation
What is DE classification?
semi-skilled, unskilled and unemployed
What classes mostly vote conservative?
AB and C1
What classes mostly vote labour?
C2 and DE
What are floating voters?
voters who are aware of the candidates but lack any party anchoring
What classes tend to be floating voters?
C1 and C2
What classes do parties aim their manifesto towards and why?
C1 and C2, floating voters
% of DE voting for labour in 2017?
59%
% of DE voting for labour in 2019?
39%
% of AB who voted conservative in 2019?
45%
What is class dealignment?
Where people no longer vote according to their social class
Who do Liberal Democrat’s appeal to with their c- policy?
adopts centrist policy’s - appeals to a wider class base in the centre of society
In which election was social class replaced as a key factor of voting behaviour? and why
2019 general election - conservative commitment to brexit
In 2019 what classes voted 41-47% conservative?
all - AB, C1, C2,DE
Why is new labour more successful?
Prioritised AB and C1 voters
Turnout of DE voters in 2019 GE?
53%
Turnout of DE voters in 2019 GE?
53%
Turnout of DE voters in 2019 GE?
53%
Turnout of AB voters in 2019 GE
68%
Example of consistant support across all classes
Green Party - 2015 GE - all classes between 3/4%
3 reasons why social class does still matter in uk elections
- regional voting reflects wealth and poverty
- voters identity with a party based on social classes
- manifestos designed with social class in mind
3 reasons why social class does not matter in uk elections
- major issues are irrespective of class (brexit)
- working class decline making it less of an electoral force
- modern parties have to appeal to all classes to be successful
What are core voters?
Voters who will invariably support or other of the main parties
What is partisan dealignment?
The idea that people are less committed or loyal to one particular party
What is rising p- d-
partisan dealignment
Example of targeted votes for women
Labour 2015 - woman to woman pink mini bus which visited 75 constituencies to encourage more women to vote
Example of little gender gap in voting
2019 general election labour - 31% men and 34% women
Why have women traditionally voted conservative?
Social role - seen as the party of housewives which sought to keep prices low so women could run effective homes
Why have women traditionally not voted labour?
working class - men - social roles
When was the collapse of Britain’s industrial force?
1990’s