VOTING BEHAVIOUR & MEDIA

Question 1

Define positional voting

Answer 1

Judging parties based on position on certain issues

Question 2

Define valence voting

Answer 2

Voters decide on which party thee trust to deliver valence issues (issues in common agreement eg economic issues)
Judging based on values, character and perception

Question 3

Define governing competence

Answer 3

Perceived ability of governing part to manage state affairs correctly

Question 4

Define issue voting

Answer 4

Voting based on party attitudes to salient issues

Question 5

Define rational choice theory

Answer 5

Parties can influence voting performance by reshaping policies in advance
Voters choose based on policies available

Question 6

Define tactical voting

Answer 6

Voting for different parties to try and keep out another party
Eg 1997 - many labour, snp, Lib Dems voted against tories

Question 7

Why was 1979 election called

Answer 7

• lib lab pact -> by-election defeat, facing motion of no confidence
• lack of support in commons, also reflected in public

Question 8

Results of 1979 election

Answer 8

Conservatives won with just over 40% of vote

Question 9

What factors influenced the outcome of the 1979 election

Answer 9

• governing competence - labour incompetent in dealing with issues, winter of discontent (govt economic policy)
• economic voting - labour failing in imf bailout
• campaign strategy - attacking labour (playing into public dissatisfaction), clear memorable slogan
• party leaders - Callaghan seen as out of touch -> crisis? What crisis?

Question 10

Why was 1997 election called

Answer 10

General election had to be called

Question 11

What was result of 1997 election

Answer 11

Labour win with 43% of vote
Over 400 seats

Question 12

What factors influenced the 1997 election

Answer 12

• class - many swing voters, partisan dealignment, labour got more support from middle class (increased national appeal - vote share increased through all classes)
• gender - larger swing amongst women (Blair’s focus on public services)
• age - Tories lose 16% of voters between 45-54
• region - labour dominated Scotland/northwest and also south
• policy - labour appealed to larger audience by changing clause iv
• leaders - Blair had charisma/charm
• campaign strategy - Blair sleeves rolled up (casual approach to politics), mondeo man (stereotypical Essex man labour targeted their votes at)
• opposition - Tory party focused on family values but they were full of sleaze
• media - ‘sun wot won it’ (shifted to support labour)
• governing competence - Tories arguing over eu membership, black Wednesday (value of £ drops, little economic competence)

Question 13

Why was 2017 election called

Answer 13

• stronger mandate to move ahead with Brexit negotiations
• wanted her own mandate to govern/lead country

Question 14

What was the result of the 2017 election

Answer 14

43% of vote
Just over 300 seats
Confidence and supply with dup

Question 15

What factors influenced the 2017 election

Answer 15

• class - further dealignment
• education - conservatives (no qualifications), labour (graduates)
• gender - labour increase vote share among women than men
• age - swing to labour (under 44s) and highest among 25-34s
• campaign - may under attack for social care policy and 2 terrorist attacks, wooden/unnatural interviews
• leadership - corbyn campaigned well, comfortable/energised
• media - labour spent more than Tories on social media
• salient issues - Brexit key issue, split between leave and remain voters

Question 16

Why was 2019 election called

Answer 16

• Johnson failed to get parliament to agree to his Brexit plan
• he had suspended parliament, overturned by Supreme Court
• get majority in parliament

Question 17

What were the results of 2019 election

Answer 17

Conservatives win 365 seats

Question 18

What factors influenced the 2019 election

Answer 18

• race/ethnicity - labour won votes of 64% of BAME voters
• homeownership - 57% owned home (conservative), 45% social renters (labour)
• policy - short manifesto (small tax cuts, modest public spending increase)
• leadership - Boris more popular than corbyn
• oppositions weakness - labours vote dropped dramatically, labour poor position on Brexit
• salient issues - getting Brexit done repeated
• simplicity of message - message more focused, labour had too bi policies (mass nationalisation and free broadband)
• media - Boris hides in fridge to avoid interview, corbynmania

Question 19

What is long term and short term voting behaviour

Answer 19

Long term - affect electoral outcomes over multiple elections
Short term - specific to particular elections

Question 20

How do newspapers influence consumers before elections

Answer 20

Can tip balance
Eg pro-leave newspapers outnumbered remain by 3 million readers

Question 21

How does tv influence consumers before elections

Answer 21

Can lead to presidentialism - focus on leader rather than party
Shows how some leaders avoid appearances - tv debate dodging
May (2017) and johnson (2019) - less dam in than no appearances

Question 22

How does social media influence consumers before elections

Answer 22

Influence voters on policies
Can be damaging - emphasises flaws/mistakes made
Echo chamber - strengthen people’s views rather than change them

Question 23

How did opinion polls affect 2015 election

Answer 23

Suggested dead heat between main parties resulting in a second hung parliament (suggestion that snp would have coalition with labour)
Tories campaign on that basis - plan to win votes and win outright victory

Question 24

How did opinion polls affect 2017 election

Answer 24

• inaccurate (showed Conservative far lead between 5 and 12%)
• results were actually barely 2% ahead of labour and there was hung parliament (only yougov and survation predicted this outcome)

Question 25

Should the publication of polls be banned in the run up to elections

Answer 25

For
- may influence way people vote
- inaccurate so mislead public
- politicians shouldn’t be slaves to changing public opinion

Against
- infringes on principle of freedom of expression
- publications will just become privately available for those who can afford them
- they give valuable information about people’s attitudes which politicians can use
- polls can still be published abroad