Voting Behaviour- Rational choice

Question 1

What is the rational choice model?

Answer 1

Says issue voting is the most significant factor affecting voting behaviour
e.g. issues are policy’s and reputations of party leaders

Question 2

What are salient issues?

Answer 2

Issues considered most important in the elections e.g. the economy, healthcare, education, taxation, crime and immigration

Question 3

What are valence issues?

Answer 3

Issues where theirs a broad agreement on goals the govt should persue
Vote for which ever party has what meets your needs

Question 4

Factors of rational choice?

Answer 4

Party leaders
Party reputations and preformance
Policys

Question 5

Party leaders?

Answer 5

Specifically since 2010 general election Nick Clegg had an extremely high approval rate causing a coalition however because he broke the policy manifest he got huge hate and lost may seats for lib dems

Question 6

Party reputation?

Answer 6

Labours reputation is being dominated by trade unions even after new labour
Conservatives still known as the nasty party

Question 7

Why could rational choice be shaped by long term factors?

Answer 7

Everyone remembers bad things about a party

Question 8

Case study- 2019 of rational choice? Policy’s

Answer 8

-Brexit
-Scottish independence
-Economic policy

Question 9

Case study 2019- Party reputation?

Answer 9

Many ignored reputation and voted for conservative due to its Brexit policy’s
- Lib dems reputation ruined due to Nick Clegg and Swinson

Question 10

Case study 2019- Party leader?

Answer 10

Boris Johnson quite well liked
Huge hatred for Corbyn and Swinson
Mori says the party leader is equally as important then its policy’s which is what cost corbyn

Question 11

Vernon Key?

Answer 11

Retrospective voting
Voters judge performance on gov
Look at economy

Question 12

Humphreys, Himmelweit and Jagger?

Answer 12

Voters are like shoppers with a list
All shoppers have different lists of what they want

Question 13

Whats a swing?

Answer 13

Movement of voters to one paty to another, this is callculated by avaraging the % fall for one party and the % rise of another party
eg 1997 labour otes up by 8.8% votes and conservatives down by -11.2% so the swing would be (8.8+11.2) divided by 2 giving us 10.3%

Question 14

What is a churn?

Answer 14

Even if few seats change hands and party votes remain stable this doesn’t means most people voted for the same party as the previous election