Voting Behaviour And The Media Flashcards
What is a common misconception about voter bases?
All the working class vote Labour.
All the middle and upper class vote Conservative.
How were elections decided from 1945 to
1970?
The effectiveness at which Conservatives or Labour mobilised their
core supporters.
What are the main social compositions?
A = Upper Middle Class
B = Middle Class
C1 = Lower Middle Class
C2 = Aspiration Working Class
D = Working Class (semi-skilled, unskilled factory workers)
E= Working Class (casual workers, long-term unemployed)
What voters did the Conservatives generally rely on?
A
B
C1
What voters did Labour generally rely on?
C2
D
E
How did the DE vote of 1964 look?
Harold Wilson took 64% of DE voters.
How did the AB vote of 1964 look?
Alec Douglas-Home took 78% of AB voters.
What did the 1970 General Election prove contrary to popular belief?
Issue voting was just as (if not more) important than class-based voting.
Edward Heath had a surprise win over Harold Wilson.
Why did many traditional Labour voters change to the Conservatives in the 1970 GE?
Following Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech, many white working class thought that immigration would be more tightly controlled by the Conservatives.
What is the decline of class-based voting known as?
Partisan dealignment.
What is partisan dealignment?
The decline of class-based voting.
When did partisan dealignment become more prevalent?
Since 1970.
Why was there a rise of partisan dealignment in the 1970’s?
Voting choices have been made on governing competence, salience of core issues (issue voting) and economic self-interest.
Why was there really heavy partisan dealignment in the 1979 GE?
The Winter of Discontent.
What is class dealignment?
Voters are much less likely to vote according to their membership of a particular class.
How did Margaret Thatcher deal with Cardiff in the 1979 GE?
A Conservative campaign was launched in Cardiff to disassociate the party from being too middle class.
What did Margaret Thatcher do in her campaign in Cardiff?
Controlling inflation
Confronting trade union power.
What did Margaret Thatcher’s Cardiff campaign do in terms of voter bases?
11% swing from C2 voters.
9% swing from DE voters.
Who used Thatcher’s class dealignment tactic to win a GE?
Tony Blair.
What did Blair’s class dealignment lead to in terms of voter bases?
Increasing Labour’s share of the vote in all social categories.
Winning a majority of support within all age groups.
What did the 2017 GE show contrasting in terms of voter bases?
May made huge gains in DE voters.
Corbyn made gains in AB voters.
Why did Corbyn make gains in AB voters?
Pro-Europeans wanting to punish the
Conservatives for Brexit.
Why did May make gains in DE voters?
Pro-Brexiteers thought that the Conservatives would deliver a stronger Brexit.
What is the most prosperous region of the
UK?
South-East
What party does well in the South-East?
Conservatives.
Where does Labour do particularly well?
Big cities with ethnically diverse populations.
Major centres of industrial production.
What is the general rule regarding voting behaviour?
North of England is more likely to vote Labour.
South of England is more likely to vote Conservative.
What party has fared disproportionately poorly due to the current electoral system?
Liberal Democrats.
Why have the Liberal Democrats done poorly under FPTP?
Few areas of concentrated support.
How many seats changed parties in the 2017
General Election?
71 out of 650.
Why do very few seats change hands in
General Elections?
There is an inbuilt majority that a party has in a particular region.
What areas of the country have generally decided General Elections?
London and the Midlands.
What have recent General Elections changed regarding voting principles?
Voters are now more likely to vote based on issues rather than class or location.
What has changed in Scotland regarding seats?
Traditionally, it was a Labour stronghold.
Recently, the SP has completely overtaken the vote, winning 56 of 59 seats in the 2015 General Election.
In 2017, under Ruth Davidson, the Conservatives returned 13 of 59 seats to become the second largest party in Scotland.
(2023 UPDATE)
Seeing as the SNP looks to completely collapse, it is likely that Scotland returns to Labour.
What can generally be assumed about
Scotland voting patterns?
Nothing, it is one of the most unstable and unpredictable places for the UK General Elections.
Why has the Conservative vote collapsed in
London?
Soaring cost of home ownership.
Dramatic levels of inequality.
Conservative association with Euroscepticism as the capital voted decisively to Remain.
Why has the Labour vote surged in London?
Multicultural and Metropolitan values that
Labour espouses.
Why did the Conservatives see an increase in vote in the North?
People perceived their stance on immigration and Brexit to be tougher.
Why did Labour see an increase in vote share in the South?
A more consistent opposition to the Conservatives in the EU referendum.
How does age have an effect on voting tendancies?
The older you are, the more likely you are to vote Conservative.
The younger you are, the more likely you are to vote Labour.
Why have older people tended to vote
Conservative?
Older people tend to own their properties, so tend to favour security and stability. They are often keen for taxes to be limited as they have to provide for others.
Why is a manifesto a valence factor?
While almost all voters will not understand the manifesto in its
entirety, one or two popular policies may swing the result, whereas one or two unpopular policies will swing the result away from the party.
1987 - Labour did not commit to the UK’s nuclear deterrent. The Conservatives used an image of a surrendering soldier stating
‘LABOUR’S POLICY ON ARMS’
1992 - Labour manifesto to increase public spending allowed the Conservatives to claim successfully that a Labour government would mean a ‘tax bombshell’ for every family.
