Voting Behaviour & Media Flashcards
What are the arguments that social class still does matter in elections?
Issues over levels of taxation and welfare payments can be linked to classes and helps distinguish the main parties
Number of voters still vote according to their social class
Regional voting tends to reflect class based issues e.g. wealth and poverty
Social mobility (or lack of it) and inequality remain major for many votes
What are the arguments that social class is no longer important in elections?
Major issues, e.g. Brexit and immigration, cross class lines
The size and importance of the working class has declined, so it’s less of an electoral force
Increasing levels of jobs and education opportunities make it harder to determine someone’s class
To be successful, modern parties must appeal to more than one social class
What are the different classes and their descriptions?
AB- higher and intermediate managerial and administrative, professional occupations
C1- supervisory, clerical and junior managerial professional occupations
C2- skilled manual occupations
DE- semi skilled and unskilled occupations, unemployed and lowest grade occupations
What are the social factors that affect voting behaviour?
Age
Ethnicity
Education
Gender
Party voting
Region
How does age affect voting behaviour?
Every 10 years older= more likely to vote conservative
Young people tend to be less conservative
People age and acquire assets- focus more rationally and on more self interested issues rather than wider social issues
How does ethnicity affect voting behaviour?
Conservatives Party has a historical supporter range that oppose immigration and equal rights
Labour passed major anti discrimination legislation
Conservatives, UKIP and Brexit party may claim to be racially tolerant but their actions contradict their words
BAME (Black, Asian, minority ethnic) tend to vote more Labour
How does education affect voting behaviour?
More academic qualifications= more likely to be middle class/ upper class and therefore more likely to vote Conservatives
Education appears to give more understanding of politics and issues and encourages rational voting
Conservatives party was the single most popular party across all educational groups in 2019, but Brexit was an anomaly
How does gender affect voting behaviour?
Conservatives= ‘party of housewives’
Women- more likely to vote Labour
Gender= too large a social group to have an effective explanation for electoral results
Specific tactics to reach out to male voters
Tailored strategies to target female voters
How does party voting affect voting behaviour?
Closely align with a particular party based on their class
Party could rely on core votes (voters that support one or other of the main parties)
Class dealignment
People can cast their votes primarily out of loyalty to one party
How does region affect voting behaviour?
Southeast England= more wealthy, very conservative
Labour dominates in London
Conservatives are dominant in the English Midlands
Labour is the dominant party in Wales
What are factors that affect voting choice?
Tactical voting
Policies presented in the party’s manifesto
Image and representation of the party
Leader and their ability to be PM
How parties have performed in the office
Key issues presented during the campaign
What is valence voting?
When people vote or make decisions based on the party or candidate they think is most likely to run the country effectively
Judgements about government competency
Look at UK economy and decide which party did the most to improve it
How generally competent the party was in the past
How strong and ‘prime ministerial’ the leader was
What is rational choice voting?
Suggests people vote based on what they consider to be in their own interests
Focused on economy but can relate to what they gain from the new government
Look at manifesto
People may feel certain politics would manage the economy more effectively
Reduces voting interest/ decisions are based on logic
What is issue voting?
Voters decide on who to vote for based on a single issue they care a lot about
Could be rational- e.g. pensioners deciding on the party that would benefit pension the most
Give some examples where the media may have influenced an election outcome
1979 election- Sun posting a ‘Crisis, what crisis?’ Reaction from Jim Callaghan to the Winter of Discontent- it never happened but it swung opinion against the PM
2010 election- Nick Clegg winning the first televised debate- Nick Clegg won over David Cameron- this may have caused the coalition
2019 election- facebook advertising- Conservatives had 2500 live paid for adverts, whereas Labour had 250 and the Conservatives won a huge majority over Labour
