Voting Behaviour and the Media Flashcards
Class based voting - until 1970s
Labour - mostly working class
Conservative - mostly middle and upper class
LibDems - middle class
AB class
AB class - upper class and upper middle
from A - aristocracy to judges, company executives
to B - other professionals e.g. doctors, lawyers, teachers
C1 and C2 class
C1 - lower middle class e.g. secretaries, general office workers, sales people
C2 - skilled working class e.g. plumbers, electricians, builders, mechanics etc
DE class
unskilled working class e.g. factory workers, manual labourers, farm workers, cleaners and the unemployed
What is the name given to the the less distinct identification with class?
class dealignment
Why has there been class dealignment?
social mobility which means people born into working class families now more likely to get an education and go to university therefore getting better paid jobs and become middle class
What has been the result of class dealignment?
partisan dealignment
people are less likely to be expected to vote in a certain way
Give an example of a group in society who hold radically left views.
‘Champagne socialists’ Hampstead chatterati’
living in Hampstead/Camden
radical left wing views
educated
people with a social conscious
Name given to working class east end Londoners moving to Essex and Kent - what is their voting behaviour?
Essex man / Essex woman
C2 voters
started to vote Tory
many worked in trade/became self made business owners
What was the link between class and voting in 2019?
class is less important than it used to be
due to Brexit and corbyn factor
Political disillusion meaning
the feeling that all parties are all the same and that no matter who you vote for there will be no significant change
How have the nature of politicians changed?
- more likely to come from political backgrounds and paths
- never really worked outside of politics
- criticised for living in a ‘political bubble’ where they don’t know what the real world is
- most come from Russell Group universities
- previously there were more characters in politics and politicians went into politics after having a prior career
How does the changing nature of politicians affect voting?
- general public less appealed by their prestige and ignorance
- criticised for not having a sense for what the real world is like
How does governing competency affect voting choice?
- voters as consumers look at what parties actually have to offer
- voters can then pass judgement on the competency of a government
How far does gender affect voting?
- traditionally women were more likely to vote Tory and men were more likely to vote Labour because they went into the workplace
- no longer the case as there is not much of a gender gap in how they vote (women slightly more likely to vote Labour)
How far does age affect voting?
obvious generational gap between millennials and gen z
Older Voters
- more assets, probably paid off mortgage, triple lock pension so more likely to vote Conservative
- the older someone is the more conservative they get as they are nostalgic of the past and favour tradition
What is triple lock pension?
triple lock pension protects the income that retirees receive through the state pension from inflation
Younger Voters
- more likely to be educated and therefore more likely to vote Labour
- social media creating polarisation, adopting radical views and desiring change
- live in a more multicultural society open to other views/opinions through the media
How does newspaper readership affect voting?
- newspaper readership tend to reinforce readers’ biases rather than influence voters to vote a certain way
- people who read newspapers tend to be older and more likely to vote
Left wing newspapers
Mirror
Independent
Guardian
Right wing newspapers
Telegraph
Daily Mail
The Sun
The Times
How are ethnic minorities expected to vote?
overwhelmingly vote Labour
Ethnicity in Brexit referendum
large number of asian voters voted LEAVE
What effect does ethnicity have on voting behaviour?
ethnicity more so counts on a micro level than macro
largely depends on specific and independent issues
Conservatives in the 1979 General Election
Conservative won a 43 seat majority
Labour in the 1979 General Election
Labour lost 62 seats
Role of smaller parties in the 1979 General Election
Commons dominated by two major parties
little representation of smaller parties
Who became prime minister after 1979 General Election? What is the significance of their role?
Margaret Thatcher - first female PM
What did the 1979 General Election mark the beginning of?
18 consecutive years of Conservative government
What was the turnout for the 1979 General Election?
76%
How did Thatcher tempt more women to vote Tory in the 1979 General Election?
her attempt to become the ‘housewives friend’ with focusing on food prices
C2 voters in 1979 General Election
Conservatives managed to win 41% of C2 votes
(up from 21%in 1974)
What gave Conservatives a natural advantage in the 1979 General Election? (in terms of voting based on class)
growing size of middle class and shrinking size of working class
Most significant valence issue of the 1979 General Election
the aftermath of the ‘winter of discontent’
Governing Competency - 1979 General Election
voters punished Labour for not controlling trade union power (‘winter of discontent’ wave of public sector strikes)
Economic competency - 1979 General Election
Labour became associated with high inflation rates
Party Unity - 1979 General Election
Labour appeared disunited between its left wing and its moderates
What was the key salient issue of the 1979 General Election?
the extent to which the state should regulate and control industry
What Conservative promise was popular in the 1979 General Election?
promise to expand home ownership
What policy commitments/policy changes did the 1979 General Election bring
tackling inflation as main priority
free market
privatisation
reduction to trade union powers
Labour election campaign - 1979 General Election
ran a poor election campaign implying the country should not elect a woman
Conservative election campaign - 1979 General Election
ran a slick, media-driven campaign
hired the Saatchi brothers
developed a ‘Labour isn’t working’ campaign
What led to a fall in liberal votes in the 1979 General Election?
Thorpe affair
What did the opinion polls suggest in the 1979 General Election?
that Labour may have won if the election had taken place in 1978
The role of ‘The Sun’ in the 1979 General Election
switched allegiance from Labour to Conservative
What article did ‘The Sun’ publish in the 1979 General Election campaign?
‘Crisis, What Crisis?’
reporting on Labour leader James Callaghan’s supposed blasé attitude towards the industrial unrest
Who won the 1997 General Election?
Labour won a landslide victory
Conservatives in the 1997 General Election
lost 178 seats
recorded as their worst election since 1906
Role of smaller parties in the 1997 General Election
Liberal Democrats made a breakthrough winning 46 seats at Westminster
What exaggerated the scale of Labour’s victory in the 1997 General Election?
the effects of the electoral system
Labour won 43% of the vote which converted to 63% of seats
Class based voting in the 1997 General Election
New Labour ruthlessly and effectively targeted C1 voters (identified as swing voters)
also won back C2 voters
Most significant social factor of the 1997 General Election
Blair managed to appeal to the growing middle class through his ‘Third Way’ policies
Economic Competency - 1997 General Election
Labour promised to stick to Tory spending plans and not raise income tax
Governing Competency - 1997 General Election
there was a number of Tory scandals e.g. ‘arms to Iraq’ ‘cash for questions’
Give examples of the Tory scandals of the 1997 General Elections
‘Arms to Iraq’
‘Cash for questions’
Party Unity - 1997 General Election
John Major faced a leadership content that bitterly divided the party over Europe
Party Leaders - 1997 General Election
Blair - seen as a charismatic and dynamic leader
Major - viewed as dull and uninspiring
Blair quote from 1997 General Election
‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’
What significant policy came out of the 1997 General Election?
creation of devolution
What was the key salient issue of the 1997 General Election?
public services
What was Labour’s promise in the 1997 General Election?
promised to invest in education and health
How did the Tory election campaign backfire in the 1997 General Election?
attempted to paint Blair as a socialist
‘New Labour, New Danger’
had little impact on the trajectory of the result
How did the media play a role in the 1997 General Election?
most newspaper backed labour
Murdoch press switched support from Conservative to Labour
The Sun in the 1997 General Election
headline ‘ The Sun backs Blair’
Conservative result of 2019 General Election
won an 80 seat majority
ending two years of minority government
Labour result in 2019 General Election
reduced to just 203 seats
worst defeat since 1935
Liberal Democrats in the 2019 General Election
hoped for a comeback but failed
won 11 seats (one fewer than 2017)
SNP in the 2019 General Election
dominated Scotland
winning 48 out of 59 Scottish seats
third largest party in House of Commons
Age in the 2019 General Election
clearest voting indicator
56% 18-24 year olds - Labour
57% 60-69 years olds - Conservative
Region in the 2019 General Election
Conservatives able to breach Labour’s ‘red wall’
won over Labour’s safe seats in the North and Midlands
What did the Tories benefit from that Labour failed to do in the 2019 General Election?
Tories were able to consolidate votes from Leave-Voting areas from 2016 Referendum
Labour failed to do the same with Remain-Voting areas
Party Unity - 2019 General Election
removing the whip from Tory MPs who voted to block a no-deal Brexit meant that Johnson went into the election with party candidates who were united by his view
What did the opinion polls suggest about the 2019 General Election?
voters still did not trust Labour on the economy and its spending plans (economic competence)
Party Leaders - 2019 General Election
Corbyn’s failure to tackle anti-semitism in his party weakened his approval ratings
What was the most significant salient issue of the 2019 General Election?
- healthcare spending
- Brexit
What was the Tory promise of the 2019 General Election? How was it successful?
Tory promise to ‘Get Brexit Done’
this appealed to the masses who were weary of the 3 and a half years of political gridlock in parliament
unlike Labour’s promise for another referendum
What did all parties promise in the 2019 General Election?
to increase spending on healthcare
What criticism did Tories sought to defuse in the 2019 General Election? What did they promise?
public sector cuts
promised 50,000 extra nurses
later admitted only 31,000 would be new recruits
Labour in the media - 2019 General Election
lots of negative coverage surrounding Corbyn
Conservatives in the media - 2019 General Election
targeted older voters in marginal constituencies on Facebook by providing adverts about Brexit
How did Conservative promises differ to Labour promises in the 2019 General Election?
Conservatives played it safe with their electoral promises
Labour criticised for their promise for free broadband for all
Johnsons Election Campaign - 2019 General Election
- repetitive sloganeering of ‘Get Brexit Done’
- campaign where he smashed a wall labelled ‘Gridlock’ with a JCB emblazoned with ‘Get Brexit Done’
Brexit Party - 2019 General Election
decided to not field candidates against Leave-supporting Conservative MP’s
proved crucial in marginal constituencies
helped consolidate Leave vote for Tories
