4. Voting Behaviour and the Media Flashcards
(54 cards)
Who were the main candidates in the 1979 election?
Margaret Thatcher & Jim Callaghan.
What was the Conservative result to the 1979 election?
339 seats, 43.9% of popular vote.
What was Thatcher’s majority after the 1979 election?
43 seats.
What was the Labour result to the 1997 election?
418 seats, 43.2% of popular vote.
Who were the main candidates in the 1997 election?
Tony Blair & John Major.
What was Blair’s majority after the 1997 election?
179 seats.
What was the turnout of the 1979 election?
76%.
What was the turnout of the 1997 election?
71.4%.
Who were the main candidates in the 2010 General Election?
David Cameron, Gordon Brown, Nick Clegg.
What was the Liberal Democrat result of the 2010 election?
57 seats, 23% of popular vote.
Why did the election campaigns in 1979 cause Thatcher to win?
Conservatives had 2 advertising experts - Gorden Reece & Tim Bell.
Thatcher also turned down a televised debate with Callaghan since she thought she’d lose.
What was the turnout to the 2010 election?
65.1%.
What are the main three factors that decide the outcomes of elections?
Party policy & manifestos.
The election campaigns.
The wider political context.
Why did the wider political context in 1979 work to Thatcher’s advantage?
Callaghan had a minority government & had failed to deal with militant Trade Unions in the ‘winter of discontent’.
Why did manifesto & policy turn the 1979 election towards Thatcher?
Both manifestos were very moderate - when Jim Callaghan warned of a lurch to the right it had little crediblity.
Why did manifestos work to Blair’s advantage in 1997?
Blair won the endorsement of the press, notably the sun and the times.
He also abandoned hard-left policies such as nationalisation and strengthening Trade Union powers.
Why did the election campaigns lead to Blair’s victory in 1997?
Labour had a huge professional vote-winning propaganda machine run by Alastair Campbell & Peter Mandelson.
What stat proves that Labour’s campaign in 1997 wasn’t the main reason for victory?
Labour’s share of the vote increased on average by 12.5% in seats it targeted, but by 13.4% on average where it didn’t target.
What did the wider political context to do help Blair win the election?
The ‘Black Wednesday’ Catastrophe hurt John Major’s government reputation immeasurably, and the ‘back to basics’ scandals further reinforced this sentiment.
How did policy help Cameron win the 2010 election?
All three parties had similar promises to eliminate the budget deficit (£163 billion). However, people saw Labour’s policies as overspending, and did not trust Brown with the economy.
How did campaigns help Cameron win the 2010 election?
Gordon Brown’s meeting with a woman in Rochdale, where he called her a ‘bigoted woman’ without realising he was still mic’ed up.
Furthermore, the TV debated helped the Liberal Democrats come across well, as Nick Clegg saw huge popularity from these debate performances.
How did the wider political context help Cameron win the 2010 election?
Brown was seen as indecisive after wavering over whether to call an election in 2007 (Bottle it Brown). Brown was severely hurt by the 2007-8 financial crash.
What stats could explain why Cameron was unable to secure an overall majority?
Conservatives only had a 3% lead on Labour in a poll over whose economic policy was better (26% to 29%).
What is class dealignment?
The idea that people no longer identify as a certain social class, and their voting will not be affected by this.
