4.2The role of the media

Question 1

what are opinion polls

Answer 1

• ask the public who they intend to vote for
• can also ask more detailed questions about their opinion of party leaders and their policies

Question 2

what’s an example of opinion polls not always being accurate

Answer 2

• failed to predict John Majors 21 seat majority, instead thought labour would get a narrow victory of there would be a hung parliament

Question 3

how much did the conservatives spend on Facebook advertisement in the 2015 election

Answer 3

100k

Question 4

what’s an example of parties taking media very seriously

Answer 4

in the 1990s, media appointed allastair campbell to be labours press secretary and he was prominent throughout Blairs term

Question 5

how can the media be biased

Answer 5

• newspaper editors mainly write from a certain perspective which they think may be better for who reads their paper, media can shape political agendas through the way they cover political issues
  Eg: the Sun heavily backed Blair

Question 6

What was the turnout in the 2024 election

Answer 6

-59.9%, 7.4% lower then in 2019

Question 7

How did Reform Uk increase their vote in the campaign for the 2024 election

Answer 7

• in the 6 week campaign, rise in support for Reform UK was huge, rising from about 10% in the polls to 14%. Could be due to Farage announcing he would stand in Clayton, and lead Reform
• in terms of seats, Reform did a huge amount of damage to the conservatives by splitting the right wing vote

Question 8

How did the Conservative Party decline for the 2024 election

Answer 8

• 6th June, Sunak criticised by public for leaving D-Day event to do an ITV interview
• 12th June, couple conservatives candidates used insider info to bet on the July election day before it was announced, adding to views that torries were corrupt

Question 9

How did labour and Lib Dem’s have effective voting campaigns in 2024

Answer 9

• they both targeted resources at seats highly effectively. As well as benefitting from tactical voting
• Lib Dem’s won almost every seat they targeted including in Tory strongholds like Oxfordshire as Davey did fun activities to gain media attention and to appeal to the public