voting behaviour and the media

Question 1

1979 case study overview

Answer 1

76% turnout
Conservative win with 339 seats majority of 43
labour won 269 seats
conservative focus on reducing inflation
there was little indication as to how right the party would go
labour was extremely unrealistic
election was called after Callaghan’s government lost a vote of no confidence
conservatives hired publicity specialist to make themselves look good
Callaghan’s previous government were not popular at all particularly because of the winter of discontent with thousands going on strike and Callaghan barely acknowledging the massive problem

Question 2

1997 case study overview

Answer 2

71.4% turnout
first labour government in 18 years
Labour won 418 seats and a majority of 179
conservative won 165 seats
conservative lacked good leadership and suffered from party infighting failing to appeal to an increasingly diverse society
labour adopted a policy of new labour
New labour abandoned old fashioned policies like nationalisation, strengthening trade unions and increasing tax and focused on reducing crime rates focusing on appealing to “middle england”
the 1997 result can only be fully explained by looking at the failings of the 1992 conservative goverment
impression of weak leadership was fatal for the tories

Question 3

2010 case study overview

Answer 3

65.1% turnout
coallition between conservatives and liberal democrats as all parties failed to obtain a majority
conservatives won 306 seats
labour won 258 seats
conservative wanted to fix the deficit and “go green”
labour wanted an increase in public spending and cut deficit by 50%
social media was a new and important factor as it was the first election with live TV debates. Facebook set up pages with live commentary.
Nick Clegg did best in opinion polls and had a jump in opinion polls because of this

Question 4

class voting

Answer 4

voters will vote in the common economic interest of their class

Question 5

core voting

Answer 5

will loyally vote for one party regardless of personal issues

Question 6

class deallignment

Answer 6

People no longer vote according to social class

Question 7

partisan deallignment

Answer 7

People are less loyal to a particular party

Question 8

floating voters

Answer 8

Not loyal to any party and are open to persuasion

Question 9

dissillusion

Answer 9

disappointment when something is not as good as it is expected to be

Question 10

rational choice theory

Answer 10

the idea that voter act like consumers and vote in accordance to their preferences and what they need at that time in life as an individual.

Question 11

class is important in voting because

Answer 11

Issues of tax and benefits remain a key distinction between the 2 main parties
Many voters do still identify with a party based on their perceived class
Geographic voting trends still reflect the relative wealth and class make-up of a region or constituency
Class inequality and a lack of social mobility remain major concerns for many voters

Question 12

class is not important in voting because

Answer 12

Major issues, such as immigration, cross class divisions
The size and role of the working class has declined by more than half, making it less of a political presence.
Increasing property ownership and improved education make it more difficult to categorise classes.
Successful parties have to appeal across a wide range of issues, not just those relating to class

Question 13

Factors that affect voting behaviour

Answer 13

Gender
Age
Class 
region
Ethnicity

Question 14

How does gender affect voting

Answer 14

Women have a larger preference for conservative due to a preference for a strong economy
Younger women however are more likely to vote labour than men are
In the 2010 election 30% of women aged 18 - 24 voted conservative for women aged over 55 this rose to 42%
Turnout does not differ between men and women
In the 2010 election 66% of men voted and 64% of women voted

Question 15

how does age affect voting behaviour

Answer 15

Older people more likely to vote conservative compared to young people.
Age means you are less likely to vote idealistically
Political outlooks are shaped by voter experience so if they experienced poor labour governments before they are more likely to vote conservative
Turnout is greatly affected by age - 76% of over 65’s voted compared to 44% of 18 to 24 year olds

Question 16

how does ethnicity affect voting behaviour

Answer 16

overall ethnic minorities are more likely to vote labour with the exception of Asians who would vote conservative due to their focus on small businesses
turnout is also affected - 67% of whites voting compared to 51% of ethnic minority groups

Question 17

How does region affect voting behaviour

Answer 17

The south and more prosperous, rural and suburban areas are likely to support the conservatives
areas in the North and in Wales and industrial towns have a loyalty to labour
Turnout in south east was 68% compared to 62.6% in the north west

Question 18

what are the different types of media that could affect voting

Answer 18

TV / broadcasts
Social media
The press

Question 19

social media does affect voting behaviour

Answer 19

influences more young people to vote. this can be seen in the 2017 election where we see a massive increase in 18 - 24 year old voters
The 2017 WhatsApp cascade is another example which encouraged thousands of young people to go out and vote.

Question 20

social media does not affect voting behaviour

Answer 20

increase focus on fake news means trust in social media is low and many people do not use as an objective source of information.
The older generation are not likely to be influenced by SM because they do not use it as often as generation Y

Question 21

The press does affect voting behaviour

Answer 21

In 1997 the sun changed its political leaning to labour causing many of their readers to do so
79% of daily mail readers are conservative just like they are

Question 22

the press does not affect voting behaviour

Answer 22

correlation dos not mean causation I.E. just because you vote according to your newspaper preference does not mean the newspaper makes you vote that way. in 1997 many voters who also read the sun may have been voting that way despite the sun changing allegiance any way.