Voting Behaviour in the UK Flashcards
What classes is the UK divided into?
Class A - Professionals and managers
B - middle managers and professionals
C! clerical workers and small business owners
C2skilled manual workers
D semi or unskilled manual workers
E casual workers and the long term unemployed
How does class affect voting behaviour?
Trad w/c would vote labour. Recently there has been a dealignment with people less likely to vote for the party associated with their class
How do regions affect voting behaviour?
Scotland and Wales traditionally vote Labour
South conservative
Recently conservatives have made gains in the North
How does age affect voting bahviour?
Younger voters - Labour
Older - conserative
2017 and 2019 Labour won alot of the youth vote
How does ethnicity affect voting behaviour?
Ethnic monorities trad vote for Labour
However there is no uniform pattern and variation within different ethnic groups
How does gender affect voting behaviour?
Recently women more likely to vote Labour/Lib Dem. In 2019 gen election more women voted Labour compared to the 70s when they voted Tory
How does education affect voting behaviour?
Those with higher levels of education more likely to be left wing
Pattern evident in 2016 EU referendum with better educated more likely to vote remain
How does governing competence affect voter behaviour?
Voters reward parties they perceive as competent and punish those they see as incompetent
1983 conservatives under Thatcher had a landslide victory due to their strong handling of the Falklands war and their economic success on inflation
2010 election Labour Party under Gordon Brown punished by perceived concern over govt handling of the economy and public services
How does leadership affect voter behaviour?
2015 general election many voters cited their confidence in David Cameron as a reaaaaaason for voting conservative
Ed Milliband’s leadership was seen as a weakness for the Labour Party
How does the campaign affect voter behaviour?
2017 general election Labour focussed on public meetings and rallies to energise voters
Theresa May’s campaign criticised as robotic and controlled
How do manifestos affect voter behaviour?
Give voters a clear idea what a party stands for
Labours 1983 manifesto was nicknamed the longest suicide note in history - it romised renationalisation of key industries and withdrawl from the EU - this was seen as too radical and contributed to their heavy defeat
How does issue based voting affect voter behaviour?
Voters cast a ballot based on policy issues not party loyalty
2010 general election economy was a key ssue - conservatives said they could reduce the deficit and get the economy back on track
Labour criticised for their handling of the financial crisis
How dod the media affect voter behaviour?
1992 election the Sun ran a headline claiming Neil Kinnock was mad and dangerous. It may have contributed to Labour’s defeat
2015 Ed Milliband was presented in the media as a weak leader - hurt Labour’s lection prospects
