Voting behavour

Question 1

How has the realibity of middle class voters for the conservatives decreased from 1979-2005?

Answer 1

In 1979 they received 59% of the middle class vote and labour only received 24%, whereas in 2005 they received 37% and labour received 31%.

Question 2

2019 class AB vote split (upper class and professionals)

Answer 2

32% Labour, 42% conservative

Question 3

2019 class C1 and C2 vote split (skilled and less skilled working class)

Answer 3

C1- 34% Labour, 43% conservatives
C2- 31% Labour, 49% conservatives

Question 4

2019 vote split by medium, low and high levels of education

Answer 4

Low education- 25& L, 58% C

High- 43% L, 29% C

Question 5

Influence of BREXIT on 2019- what % of leave voters voted conservative?

Answer 5

74%

Question 6

Vote split by gender 2015

Answer 6

Conservatives had slightly higher male support with 38% compact 37% women. Labour had slightly higher female support with 33% women and 30% men.

Question 7

Labours vote by ethnicity 2015 and 1997

Answer 7

In the 2015 general election labour received 28% of the white vote and 65% of all ethnic minorities vote. In 1997 labour received 82% of the black vote and 66% of the Asian vote

Question 8

Vote split by age 2010

Answer 8

In 2010 for instance, the conservative party won 44% of the 65 plus age group and 38% of the 55 to 64 age group, whilst labour 131% of the 18 to 24 year olds and 36% of the 25 to 34 year olds.

Question 9

Salient issue example in 2010

Answer 9

At the 2010 general election it was proved that the economy was the most salient issue. When asked which party do you think has the best policies on the economy, 29% of peoples are conservative and 36% said other, none or don’t know

Question 10

Significance of party leaders in 2010

Answer 10

The significance of party leaders was made very clear in 2010 when the first ever live TV debate was held with over 10 million viewers. Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg surprised many winning the first debate, and his approval rating reached 68%.

Question 11

Significance of approval rating; Brown v Cameron

Answer 11

David Cameron always enjoyed a high approval rating-contrasting with that of Gordon Brown who had only a 35% approval rating by Election Day due to links to the 2007 financial crisis and the MP’s expenses scandal.

Question 12

Influence of party reputation

Answer 12

The conservatives have always adopted the nasty party reputation-being unsympathetic to minority groups and in favour of the rich. David Cameron challenged us by embracing environmental and social issues like gay marriage

Question 13

Influence of the media 1992-2010

Answer 13

in the 1992 general election only the guardian and the Daily Mirror supported labour. When the conservatives surprisingly won, this sun run headlines claiming they’d won it for this conservatives. However, in 1997 the sun switched its support and backed knew labour. Labour won a landslide, and the sun switched back in 2010.

Question 14

What % of news readership is right wing?

Answer 14

87%

Question 15

Influence of the sun 2005-2010

Answer 15

Between the 2005 and 2010 elections, there was a 13.5% swing from labour to conservatives amongst sun readers. But 12.5% of that swing had occurred before the sun announced its support in September of 2009

Question 16

Direct effect theory

Answer 16

the media can directly affect how we think about political issues and how we vote.

Question 17

Agenda setting theory

Answer 17

suggests the media might not change how we think but it can influence what we think about. TV channels are not supposed to be partisan but they still decide what gets broadcasted -in 2015 it was found that the conservative party was much more Widley covered than labour.

Question 18

Framing theory

Answer 18

the media can subtly frame issues to influence how we think about them. Following his election as labour leader Ed Miliband was frequently portrayed as a socialist, far from the political centre, and became known as “red ed”. In 2013 the daily mail ran a story about ed Miliband father with the headline “the man who hated Britain”

Question 19

Reinforcement theory

Answer 19

we choose media that agrees with, rather than challenges our political views.

Question 20

How has the significance of the newspaper decreased?

Answer 20

Average daily sales of the sun in 1997 were 3.87 million, and in 2014 it was 2.21 million.

Question 21

Voting context model- voting behaviour depends on the type of election. How does UKIP and conservative vote split in general and European parliament elections show this?

Answer 21

In general elections the conservative party performed much better than UKIP, receiving 36.1% in 2010 in comparison to UKIPs 3.1, and 36.9% in 2015 compared to UKIPs 12.7%. however in European parliament elections, in 2014 UKIP received 26.6% of the vote and the conservatives only received 23.1%.

Question 22

Influence Of the electoral system on elections- European parliament elections using closed party list vs FPTP

Answer 22

, UKIPs 26.6% of the vote in the European parliament elections translated to 32.9% of the seats, whereas their 12.7% in the 2015 general election translated to 0.2% of the seats.

Question 23

Seats changing hands more in byelections:

Answer 23

In four of the 15 by elections held by 2012 and 2015 the seat changed hands, twice from conservative to UKIP, once from conservative to labour and once from conservative to respect.