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Voting behaviour and the Media - Coggle Diagram
Voting behaviour and the Media
Long-term Factors
Social Class:
Roughly 27% of the population is upper middle - middle class whereas 63% are lower middle - working class.
In 1997 39% of middle class or above voted conservative, 27% of the skilled working class voted conservative and 21% of the working class voted conservative.
In comparison to this, in 2019 42% of the middle class or above voted tory, 49% of the skilled working class voted for them and 47% of the working class also did.
This highlights that class dealignment is very prominent and therefore social class rarely effects our voting behaviour.
Party Loyalty:
It is evident that partisan dealignment is becoming more prominent as party membership is declining and 'safe seats' are changing.
Political party membership for those aged under 30 has dropped to 15%.
In the 2019 election the conservatives gained 50% of the votes in north Wales which has typically been a Red Wall area (vote labour).
Gender:
Gender is more focused towards certain policies that effect specific genders (such as maternity leave) but has never showed any serious indication on effecting voting behaviour.
1979 - 43% of men voted tory and 40% voted Lab.
Age:
Historically, the younger generation has voted more labour whereas the older generation tend to vote conservative.
In 2019, 22% of people aged 18-24 voted tory whereas 56% voted labour. In comparison to this, over 60% of people aged over 70 voted tory.
Ethnicity:
Traditionally, people from minority groups are more likely to vote labour, shown in 2019 when they received 64% of BME votes.
Education:
Typically those with a higher education vote conservative whereas those who have a lower form education vote labour.
Region:
Typically the Conservative party receives most of its votes from the south, Labour from the north east and Lib Dems on the coast.
Short-term Factors
Party Policies and manifestos:
2019 - Boris Johnson focused his policies around getting Brexit delivered. This was more focused towards the people who where getting annoyed (everyone).
In 1992 conservatives attacked labours economic policies via advertising a tax bombshell inbound.
Theresa Mays dementia tax in 2017 - She did a U-turn on her policy surrounding the limit people have to pay for their care.
Governing Competency:
This is how the public will perceive the ability of government and how well they will manage certain situations.
In 2019 conservatives pledged to get Brexit done whereas Labour focused on nationalism which can be seen as a poor choice in the circumstances.
Leaders:
1997 - Tony Blair was a very charismatic compared to his opponent Major.
2019 - Boris Johnson gained many donkey votes due to his 'funny' public image.
A strong leader will make the public believe the party themselves are strong.
Campaign:
In 2017 Jeremy Corby's rallies and popular manifesto lead to a 30 seat gain for the Labour Party.
Also in 2017, the Tory Party had a poor campaign and despite loosing 13 seats, they still won the election.
Party Image:
Conservative "Nast party" - applied to traditional conservatism which is anti-gay anti-minority and pro business.
Labour "the cloth cap party" - symbolic of the working class.
The Role of the Media and it's impact
Newspapers:
1992 the Sun ruthlessly ridiculed Neil Kinnock as an unfit PM and claimed they influenced the election. Likewise in 1997 when they firmly positioned themselves behind Tony Blair. "The sun what won it".
Argue it can either influence political views or reinforce them. (echo chamber)
Still remains as an influential source to the people but it has fallen behind due to the increase in social media.
Television:
In 2010 the decision to give Nick Clegg equal coverage alongside Gordon Brown and David Cameroon boosted Lib Dem votes. (Coalition).
In 2015 7 party leaders debated live on TV and it allowed Nigel Farage to boost UKIPs support.
Social Media:
UK gets 49% of its news from social media.
In 2017 Labour activist used Facebook/Twitter to spread their message.
In 2019 the tories used factcheckuk to "dup" the public after a big television debate.
Big political figures - Boris has 2.6 million twitter followers compared to Starmers 1.1.
Opinion polls:
In 2019 they predicted the Tories to win and they did eventually win. Opinion polls influence tactical voting.