Voter Influences Flashcards
What groups dd La our and the Conservatives generally rely on
The Conservatives classically would have relied on A, B, and C1 Voters, getting 73% of their vote in 1964
Labour classically relied on C2, D, and E voters gaining 63% of their vote in 1964
What factor can affect the way social classes vote?
Issue voting
1960, Conservatives won a surprise election, won a large number of traditional Labour voters, following Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood Speech’
similar in the 2019 general election as the Conservative Party won seats in the Labour stronghold ‘red wall’ over the issue of Brexit
What is the decline of class based voting known was?
Partisan delaignment
How does region effect voting influenc ?
the Conservatives do disproportionately well in South East England, where there are high levels of home ownership and little tradition of trade unionship
Labour perform well in areas that are more working class, industrial, ethinccially diverse and big cities
How does age effect voting influence”
Older voters are typically more likely to vote for the conservative party due to the promise of low taxation, strong national defence, law and order, and in recent years euro-skepticis m
older voters who had paid off mortgages were more likely to vote Conservative 55% than Labour 30% in 2017
62% of 18-24 year olds voted Labour in 2017
on average the age in which people tend to lean towards owing Conservative rather than Labour is 47
How does Ethnicity affect voting influences?
typically more ethnically diverse voters vote in favour of labour as they have been more lenient on immigration policies Labou intorduced the first Race Relations Act in 1965
2017 - East Ham constituency is 71% non white population and Labour received 82% of the vote here
How has gender influenced voters?
in 1979, 47% of females voted for the conservative party,
reT of males voted for the Conservative Party
this happened as a result of typical trade unions being male dominated, and with the Conseratices having strong family values winning the vote of House
wives
How does Government competance influence voters?
swing voters can vote against or for a government in power depending on competency
in 1959, the Conservative Party released a poster of an ideal family captioned ‘life with the Conservatives - don’t let labour ruin it’, proved to be successful as with their campaign Harold Macmillan was able to win 100 seat majority
conversely, in 1979 James Callaghan lost the confidence of the public and Parliamentt as he could not control the mass striking during the Winter of Despair
What influence does leadership have on voting?
Leadership can sway large numbers of voters
for example in 1983, Margret thatched was able to confidently defeat Micheal foots Labour Party from building a reputation of strong leadership
‘the lady is not for turning’ defeating a rebellion at the \Conservative Party conference in 1980
What effect doe the Press have on voter influences?
The press has always claimed to have considerable influence over election outcomes.
in 1992, the Sun slammed Neil Kinnock claiming he was unfit for leadership, when John Major won he jokingly stated ‘it was the Sun wot won it’
however, the impact of the press is limited as one reads a newspaper with a political Persian and not to be influenced
furthermore, the popularity of newspapers has declined overtime, the Daily Mirror had 2,900,000 newspapers in circulation in 1992 compared to 2017, where the newspaper only had 700,000 in circulation
What is the impact of television on voting influences
The first live television debate in 2010 gave Nick Clegg equal platform with Gordon brown and Dvid Cameron
Clegg performed well with his opponents admitting ‘I agree with Nick’ boosted Lib Dems in the polls
however, overall Lib Dems underperformed in the election and only gained 8 seats
What influence does social media have on voters?
