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Voting Behaviour - Coggle Diagram
Voting Behaviour
Social Class
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DE tend to vote for Labour, 59% in 2017
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AB tend to vote for Conservatives, but has been declining since 1964
Class dealignment is important - 2019 election, C2 voted Conservative
Could be instrumental voting, where people vote in their interest and not a traditional class vote
Region
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N-Eng more likely to support Labour, 53% in 2015. S-Eng 29% Lab, 54% Con
London is left-leaning, 55% Lab
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North and Midlands more likely to vote UKIP, 15% both compared to 13% in South and 8% in London
Turnout
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Young voters are the group where turnout is decreasing quickly - probably because most young people aren't concerned with the political agenda
Young people have lower turnout than average, whilst older people have higher. 54% compared to 71% youngest v oldest
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Richer people are more likely to vote than poorer people - AB 69% 2017, 53% DE
Age
The younger a voter is, the more likely they are to vote Labour over Conservative
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Younger age groups are more likely to vote for a third party, e.g. Green or SNP
Young people are more likely to have radical ideas, e.g. Scottish independence. 16-17 supported INDY 71%.
Ethincity
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BAME community is on the whole, poorer, than the white community. C2 + DE likely to be left-wing.
Valence issues
Where most of the electorate tend to hold the same views on an issue - results in similar party policies
Can lead to people voting by character instead of policy - are they competent? How about in a crisis?
Many people believe that Labour can't handle the economy, allowing gov debt to rise. People think the economy is in safe hands with the Conservatives
Leadership is a valence issue. Voters all like strong, qualified, competent leaders - weak candidates are very unlikely to win - Miliband and Clegg
The Media
All broadcasters are bound by law to remain neutral and offer balanced reporting of election / referendum campaigns
The press is very partisan - The Sun is strongly Conservative, The Mirror is strongly Labour, and Times and Guardian are moderately Tory / Labour
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Social Media
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Mostly left wing, mostly used by the young
Gender
Virtually no difference in how men and women vote - slight tendency for women to vote Labour over men though
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Voting tactics
Rational choice model, describing people who aren't affiliated to any party and hold no firm political views. They make a rational decision and vote from that
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Tactical voting - a voter abandons their first choice (which has no chance) to vote for a bearable party to stop an unbearable party getting in
E.g. Labour voters voting Tory to keep UKIP out, or Green voters voting Labour to keep Tories out