class

• Relevant - voting was a part of class identity, AB voted Cons and DE Lab
• Relevant - Major parties have roots in certain communties, e.g. Labour's core vote lies with the working class + their history with trade unions
• Relevant - Issues of taxation, welfare, social mobility and inequality are still divisive
• Relevant - relates to other factors like education, tradition, region etc.
• Relevant - 1964 -> 78% AB voted Cons and 64% DE voted Lab
• Relevant - 1979 -> 80% voted based on class
• Not relevant - class dealignment is a growing phenomenon, especially in the face of rational choice theory
• Not relevant - issue based voting dominates
• Not relevant - rational choice theory -> Downs in 1950s. Suggests voters look at what party most closely matches their preferences and stances on issues rather than class - a process of cognitive mobilisation
• Not relevant - major parties develop centrist policies to appeal to a wider base e.g. New Labour's Third Way
• Not relevant - increasing education and house ownership makes it hard to determine class affiliation
• Not relevant - 1997 -> New Labour supported business and enterprise and went back on nationalisation, appealing to upper class
• Not relevant - 1979 Thatcher campaign in Cardiff
• Not relevant - 2015, less than half of middle class voted for Cons and only 37% of working class voted for Lab
• Not relevant - 2017, Cons got 41% of DE and Lab 44% and Cons won AB vote with 46% but Lab got 38%
• Not relevant - 2019, Cons won across all class groups, with a higher proportion amongst C2 and DE voters
• Relevant - ten seats with fewest people voting were in the lowest income bracket