Voting Behaviour and the Media

Question 1

What was the seat change and how many seats did the Conservatives win in the 1979 elections?

Answer 1

339 seats with a change of +62
Had a majority of 43

Question 2

What was the seat change and how many seats did Labour win in the 1979 elections?

Answer 2

269 seats with a change of -50

Question 3

Seat change and seat winnings for Labour in the 1997 election?

Answer 3

418 won with a change of +145
179 majority

Question 4

Reasons for the Conservatives victory in the 1979 election?

Answer 4

Weakness of Labour government - lost a vote of no confidence and was regularly defeated in HoC
Callaghan unable to control trade unions who had been striking due to a 5% cap on an increase in wages
Country recovering from “Winter of discontent” where there were mass strikes

Question 5

What happened in the 1979 election campaign?

Answer 5

Thatcher used publicity specialists Tim Bell and Gordon Reece in her camapign and took advantage of photo opportunities
Conservatives put pressure on Labour over “Winter of Discontent” and handling of economy
Callaghan higher in opinion polls due to political experience

Question 6

1979 party policies

Answer 6

Both parties prioritised low inflation
Thatcher mentioned privatising recently nationalised industries and reducing trade union power but didn’t outline the extent she was to do so

Question 7

Reasons for Labour’s win in 1997?

Answer 7

Major’s government unpopular with failings of last 5 years and won just 30% of the vote
Conservatives viewed as weak on economic policy due to ‘Black Wednesday’ in 1992
Conservative sexual and financial scandals

Question 8

What happened in the 1997 election campaign?

Answer 8

Labour used public realtions experts to handle media and used focus groups to understand the opinion of the public
Labour targeted marginal seats - seats that have a small swing in order for a new party to win it

Question 9

1997 party policies

Answer 9

‘New Labour’ moved away from traditional Labour policies of increasing taxes, nationalisation and strengthing trade unions
Tough on law and order
Blair emphasised his links to business
Labour labelled itself as ‘moderate’ -> appealed to middle England
Labour’s constitutional reform policies appealed to Lib Dem voters in constituencies where they had no chance of winning

Question 10

2010 election result

Answer 10

Conservtive party largest party with 306 seats
Not enough majority so formed coalition with Lib Dems

Question 11

Reasons for Conservative victory in 2010?

Answer 11

Followed 2008 financial crisis, allowed them to attack Gordon Brown
Brown = unpopular for not calling general election after taking over from Blair in 2007
Not clear win for tories - 29% of voters believed they would be best for managing the economy, Labour had 26%

Question 12

What happened in the 2010 election campaign?

Answer 12

Tv debates with Cameron, Brown and Clegg - Clegg performed well receiving an increase in polls after first debate, Brown was worse
Tories targeted marginal seats and market-tested their policies with voters
Labour had a poor campaign
Brown called voter a ‘bigoted women’ who asked him about immigration

Question 13

2010 party policies

Answer 13

All pledged to reduce budget deficit and making saving - tories wanted immediate cuts, Lib Dems + Labour wanted more gradual ones
Conservatives targeted Labours economic policy in government claiming they overspent in government and failed to regulate banking systems -> was popular with voters

Question 14

How does partisanship influence voting?

Answer 14

Voters may vote for a party as they strongly identify with it
Been partisan dealignment in UK resulting in more swing voters
Disillusion and apathy can explain loss of party appeal for voters. Voters are disengaged and lack confidence in politicians to solve issues

Question 15

Classed-based voting

Answer 15

Traditionally working class = Labour, middle class = Conservative
However, class dealignment taken place with fewer voters voting along class lines -> explained by rise in middle class, decline in trade union power, privatisation of industries and educational opportunities

Question 16

Government competancy influencing voters

Answer 16

How voters perceive the ability of each party to run the country
Success of government’s economic policy, strong leadership and the competancy of the opposition are all factors i.e. John Major’s incompetancy was a reason for Labour’s victory

Question 17

Voting based on age

Answer 17

Traditionally old people = Conservative (as they protect the interest of old people and old people don’t like major change) , young people = Labour (2017 Labour had 47% more of voter 18-19 than Conservatives)
Young people less likely to vote - 2017: 84% over 70 vote, 57% of 18-19 voted

Question 18

Voting based on region

Answer 18

Voters in poorer areas (North and Wales) vote Labour
Voters in wealthier areas (South, bar London, and rural areas) vote Conservative

Question 19

Voting based on ethnicity and gender

Answer 19

Ethnic minorities tend to vote Labour as they promote multi-cultural agenda (2017 65% of ethnic minorities voted Labour)
Traditioanlly women voted Conservative due to their emphasis on family, by 1997 most women supported New Labour -> in recent times gender is less significant

Question 20

Voting based on age statistics (1979, 1997, 2010)

Answer 20

1979 - 18-24: 41% Labour, 42% Conservative
1997 - 49% voters aged 18-34 voted Labour
2010 - Over 65: 44% Conservative, 30% Labour

Question 21

Social class voting stats (1979, 1997, 2010)

Answer 21

1979: 59% middle-class voted Conservative, 49% of unskilled working class voted Labour
1997: Labour won 59% of unskilled working class and 50% of skilled working class, Conservatives won 21% of unskilled and 27% of skilled
2010: Conservative narrowly won middle class with 39% and skilled working class, Labour narrowly won unskilled working class

Question 22

Gender voting stats (1979,1997, 2010)

Answer 22

1979: 47% women Conservatives, 35% women Labour
1997: 44% women Labour, 49% men Labour, 31% Conservatives
2010: higher pecentages of men and women supported the Conservative party than any other party, Labour and Conservatives received similiar amounts of support from men and women

Question 23

Role of social media in elections

Answer 23

Parties advertise on Instagram, Snapchat (2017 Labour made a Corbyn snap filter viewed 9m times), Facebook (2017 Conservatives spent £2m on Facebook ads, some attaced Corbyn), Twitter -
Politicians can communicate directly to voters on their social media accounts

Question 24

Role of the internet

Answer 24

Over 82% of UK had interent access -> online media and online newspapers
MPs and politcial parties use internet to connect with voters -> these include websites outlining the work and activities MPs have done

Question 25

Role of Tv

Answer 25

Election debates in 2017 viewed by millions of people -> research by the Electoral Refrom society showed that BBC’s Question Time Leaders’ helped 34% of people decide who to vote for

Question 26

Role of newspapers

Answer 26

Many people’s main source of news -> Telegrahp supports Conservatives, Guardian supports Labour
Parties look to post positive image of themselves in papers i.e. Blair hired a press secretary, Alistair Campbell, to make sure him and Labour were portrayed best in the media

Question 27

Role of opinion polls

Answer 27

Determine how citizens vote in elections -> valuable in UK with parites conducting their own opinion polls
Exit poll asks voters who they voted for when leaving the polling station and is released on the election night

Question 28

Are the opinion polls accurate?

Answer 28

Failed to predict outright Conservative win in 2015 -> due to ‘Shy Tories’ who won’t admit they voted Conservative and the ‘boomerange effect’ when people saw Labour leading in the polls they decided to vote for them
Has been more accurate recently with polling firms including Survation, Ipsos MORI and YouGov

Question 29

Media persuasion in elections

Answer 29

Can influence voting behaviour but rarely strong enough to change how people vote on its own -> confirm people’s views as people read papers they agree with
Can shape political agenda based on issus they choose to focus on

Question 30

Media persuasion: case studies:

Answer 30

Majority of major newspapers supported Conservatives in 2010, 2015 and 2017
1992 Sun published headline “If Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britian turn out the lights.” against Labour leader Neil Kinnock

Question 31

Media persuasion: Tv

Answer 31

Influence opinions on party leaders -> Nick Clegg rised in opinion polls after 2010 Tv debates
Rarely change political views as people watch shows that align with their view

Question 32

Media bias in newspapers

Answer 32

Partisan and biased in favour in favour of certain parties whilst criticising others
Change their allegiance based on parties ideologies and circumstances i.e. Sun supported Conservatives in 2010, Blair in 1997 and Thatcher in 1979 due to her reducing trade union power -> benefited Murdoch

Question 33

Media bias in Tv

Answer 33

More neutral than papers -> parties given agreed amount of time on Tv and most channels obligated to be politically neutral