Importance of Factors 4.2

Question 1

Age

Answer 1

+ important in recent elections
- trend may not continue

Question 2

Region

Answer 2

+ notable across UK
- undergone significant changes recently

Question 3

Gender

Answer 3

+ when combined with age, an impact is seen
- little importance on its own

Question 4

Class

Answer 4

+ trend is still evident even if class allegiance has changed
- class dealignment = factor is hard to determine

Question 5

Tactical Voting

Answer 5

+ existence of websites, eg ‘tactical.vote’ suggests importance
- Electoral Calculus suggests only 10 seats changed hands due to TV

Question 6

Opinion Polls

Answer 6

+ can influence parties to change manifesto etc to improve electoral chances
- inaccuracy undermines value

Question 7

Media

Answer 7

+ can cause/help image problems
- social media & news is not always accurate or non-biased

changes in media in the last 3 elections = produced different outcomes
hard to say if this is a short term blip

Question 8

Valence

Answer 8

+ scandals eg Partygate influence voter choice
- public belief in ALL politicians = low

Question 9

Rational Choice

Answer 9

+ issue-based voting significant recently, eg Brexit
- similar manifestos may confuse voters

Question 10

Party Leadership

Answer 10

+ headlines can cause problems eg for Ed Miliband’s ‘Bacon Sandwich’ headline
- popular leaders still don’t perform well eg Supernick, Nick Clegg 2010

Question 11

Party Manifestos

Answer 11

+ poor policy = spiralling negative headlines / press
- parties may not win regardless (depends on all other factors)