Voting Behaviour + case study

Question 1

What is social class defined by?

Answer 1

• social class is a measure of a person’s status or position within society
• social class usually takes account of an individual’s income, wealth, occupation & education

Question 2

What are the main social factors?

Answer 2

CAGE (class, age, gender, ethnicity)

Question 3

State the categories of social class

Answer 3

AB: upper class & upper middle class (from A (aristocracy to judges, company executives, down to B - other professionals like doctors, lawyers & teachers)
C1: lower middle class (other white collar workers such as secretaries, bank clerks, general office, sales people)
C2: skilled working class (plumbers, electricians, builders, mechanics etc)
DE: ‘unskilled’ working class (factory works, manual labourers, farm workers, cleaners & the unemployed)

Question 4

Describe the concept of ‘class-based voting’

Answer 4

• up until the 1970’s, most working class people voted Labour, middle & upper class people voting Conservative
• the Liberals (Lib Dems) always had more of a middle class following
• since then, identification with class has become less distinct through social mobility
• nowadays, people born into working-class families are more likely to go to university, get better paid professional jobs & become middle class
• class de-alignment - less likely to identify with a particular social class, so therefore less likely to vote a certain way; there are now plenty of people who vote for the Conservatives that would be considered working class and large numbers of Labour voters who identify as middle class

Question 5

What is the current significance of governing competency & voter choice?

Answer 5

• as a society, if we have chosen to accept that class vote is no longer the sole determining factor about the way people vote, we can now look at voters as consumers, looking at what parties have to offer & making their choice in that way; voters are passing judgment on the competency of a government

Question 6

How did gender play a role in the 2024 general election?

Answer 6

• Labour: 35% overall; 34% male; 35% female
• Conservative: 24% overall; 23% male, 26% female (very significant, white collar vs blue collar; traditional values)
• LD: 13% overall; 12% male; 13% female
• RUK: 15% overall; 17% male; 13% female
• Green Party: 7% overall; 7% male; 7% female

Question 7

How did age (& gender) play a role in the 2024 general election?

Answer 7

women aged:

18-24: 45% Labour, 5% Conservative, 16% RUK, 7% Green Party
25-34: 47% Labour, 9% Conservative, 12% RUK, 12% Green Party
35-54: 39% Labour, 19% Conservative, 13% RUK, 14% Green Party
55+: 26% Labour, 40% Conservative, 13% RUK, 13% Green Party

Question 8

Explain the idea of a ‘stevenage’ woman

Answer 8

• middle aged, with kids
• unsure of political opinion/avoids politics
• struggles to pay the bills

Question 9

Describe the trend of age voting at the 2019 general election

Answer 9

out of 41,995 adults who voted:

• Labour voting went down with age (56%-14%;
  18-24 - 70+)
• Lib Dems largely stayed consistent in each age group
• Conservative voting increases with age (21%-67%; 18-24 - 70%)

Question 10

Describe the trend of age voting at the 2024 general election

Question 11

Describe the trend of voting by education level in the 2019 general election

Question 12

Describe the trend of voting by education level in the 2024 general election

Question 13

Describe the trend of voting by employment status in the 2017 general election

Answer 13

in terms of the duopoly:

retired: 63% Conservative, 24% Labour
working part-time: 40% Conservative, 44% Labour
working full-time: 39% Conservative, 45% Labour
not working: 36% Conservative, 48% Labour
unempl

Question 14

Describe the trend of voting by ethnicity in the general election

Question 15

Describe the trend of voting by supermarket shopping in the 2019 general election

Answer 15

• Iceland: 65% Leave; 35% Remain
• Ocado: 36% Leave; 64% Remain

Question 16

What alternative factors affect vote?

Answer 16

• with a decline in class based voting, voters can turn to something called valence factors
• valence factor: the relative success or failure of a government’s policies; voters who vote according to valence factors are making decisions based on whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied with the government performance
• these can be categorised into ‘behaviour voting theories’

Question 17

State and describe the behaviour voting theories

Answer 17

• rational choice theory - voters are able to make a rational choice through things like manifestos & policies
• governing competency theory - voters vote on how competent the government has been/will be (2024) (less likely to vote for opposition if you think the government has done a good job, held themselves to account, promised to deliver etc.)
• economic voting model - vote based on how the current economy is (Blair 1997)
• party leadership model - voters vote on the leader (Johnson very popular on 2019, Thatcher 1979)