Voting Behaviour and the media Flashcards
(6 cards)
Turnout
1997 - 71.4
2010 - 65.1
2015 - 66.3
2017 - 68.8
2019 - 67.3
What is Rational choice
Voters instead do not have strong connections to parties and vote ‘rationally’.
influenced by the party’s track record (valence), manifesto promises, leaders, senior party members. They will vote for the party that is most likely result in the best possible outcomes for them.
eg NHS is the most important issue if you have an elderly parent or young child or immigration is the most important issue if you are affected by it negatively or positively.
what is valence
How trustworthy and credible a party seems can impact whether people are willing to vote for them.
need to be seen by the voters as a credible and competent alternative government. This is especially true of a third party trying to win from the ‘centre’.
eg. Labour’s policies of tax rises, nationalisation and huge investment were popular - claimed only people earning over 80,000 more tax while offering free broadband and infrastructure investment
However, Boris Johnson was trusted more to run the economy and the country
what is issue based voting
These voters do not all vote in the same way nor are they influenced by the same factors
E.g. NHS, economy for small businesses
parties try to cover most big issues
2019- BREXIT outranked the NHS - Tories ‘Get Brexit Done’ cut through more than any other slogan at the 2019 election.
top reason being ‘I thought that the party I chose or its leader was the most likely to get the Brexit outcome I wanted”
How remain and leave voters voted in 2019
BREXIT outranked the NHS - Tories ‘Get Brexit Done’ cut through more than any other slogan at the 2019 election.
Conservatives won the votes of 74% of Leave voters whilst Labour won the votes of 49% of Remain voters. Many Remain voters went to Lib Dems, SNP and Green
Social Class
used to be the main determining factor for how people would vote
