Voting Behaviour And The Media- 1997 Case Study General Election

Question 1

Results of 1997 General election

Answer 1

+ Labour won a landslide victory, culminating in 419 seats and a 18/-seat majority.

+ The Conservatives lost 178 seats and recorded their worst election result since 1906.

+ The Liberal Democrats made a breakthrough, winning 46 seats at Westminster.
+ The effects of the electoral system exaggerated the scale of Labour’s victory —
43% of the vote was converted into 63% of the seats.

Question 2

Social factors of 1997 General election

Answer 2

+ Labour won more votes than the Conservatives in nearly every demographic group and so it is difficult to see a particular social factor that stood out.

+ However, Blair was able to appeal to the growing middle class with his ‘Third Way’ policies.

+ Labour also won back the C2 skilled manual workers who had abandoned the party from 1979 onwards.
party from 1979 onwards.

Question 3

Valence issues of 1997 General election

Answer 3

+ Governing competency; the Tories had been mired in a number of scandals, including the ‘arms to Iraq’ affair and the ‘cash for questions’ scandal.

+ Economic competence: Labour had worked hard to regain trust, promising to stick to Tory spending plans and not to raise income tax.

+ Party unity: Conservative prime minister john Major had faced a leadership contest in 1995 and the party was bitterly divided over Europe.

+ Party leaders: Blair was seen as a charismatic, dynamic leader while John Major, the Conservative prime minister, was viewed as dull and uninspiring.

Question 4

Salient issues of 1997 General election

Answer 4

+ Public services took centre stage. Labour promised to invest in education and health, and to be ‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’ .

Question 5

The 1997 election campaign

Answer 5

+ Tory attempts to paint Blair as a socialist backfired with the ‘New Labour, New Danger’ campaign.

+ While opinion polls narrowed towards the end, the lengthy campaign appeared to have little impact upon the trajectory of the result.

Question 6

Media influence of 1997 General election

Answer 6

+ The Murdoch press switched support from Conservative to Labour. The Sun ran with the headline ‘The Sun backs Blair.