general election case studies

• who won the 1979 election?


  the conservatives
• what was the conservative majority in the 1979 election?

  43
• who was the leader of the conservative party in the 1979 election?

  Margaret Thatcher
• what was the political context behind the 1979 election?

  • key reason behind conservative victory was weakness of labour party
  • the labour party had lost a vote of no confidence and was regularly defeated in parliament
  • callaghan was seen as unable to control trade unions and his government unable to address the social breakdown across the UK
  • country was recovering from the 'winter of discontent'
• what was the election campaign like in the 1979 election?

  • Thatcher used publicity specialists Tim Bell and Gordon Reece in her campaign + had number of photo ops
  • conservatives mainly put pressure on labour over their handling of the economy
  • callaghan was higher in opinion polls than thatcher due to his political experience
• what is an overview of the party policies of the 1979 election?

  • both manifestos were moderate and prioritised lowering inflation
  • thatcher mentioned the privatisation of industries
• who won the 1997 general election?


  labour
• what was the majority which labour had in the 1997 general election?


  179
• who was the leader of labour in 1997 


  Tony Blair
• what was the political context behind the 1997 general election?

  • the conservatives were unpopular after John Major's government failings in the previous 5 years
  • the conservatives were viewed as weak on economic policy due to 'black wednesday' in 1992
  • the conservatives were involved in a number of sexual and finance scandals before the elections which weakened their appeal
• what was labour's election campaign like in the 1997 election?

  • labour used public relations experts to handle the media and used focus groups to get a better understanding of public opinion
  • campaign involved targeting marginal seats
• what were the party policies in the 1997 election?

  • 'new labour' had modernised policies which had moved away from increasing taxes, strengthening trade unions, and nationalisation
  • they had moved towards being tough of law and order as well as emphasising links to businesses.
• what was the result of the 2019 general election?


  the conservatives won
• what was the conservative majority as a result of the 2019 general election?


  80
• who was leader of the conservatives in the 2019 general election?


  Boris Johnson
• what was the political context behind the 2019 general election?

  • brexit was the main issue behind the general election
  • parliament had been in chaos since the previous election
  • the public was frustrated by both sides inability to move on
  • Boris Johnson had benefited from having been prime minister and sticking to a singular strategy before the election.
  • Corbyn was less clear on sticking to views and policy decisions
• what was the election campaign like for the 2019 general election?

  • it was much more subdued than previous ones
  • this was partially due to it being a winter election
  • but also due to Boris Johnson rarely making public appearances
  • Corbyn was more vocal on his issues though and created a campaign
  • opinion polls indicated a conservative win throughout
• how did the regions vote in the 2019 general election?


  the conservatives won the rural areas as well as the south but also made headway in industrial northern areas
• how did class impact voting in the 2019 general election?


  conservatives won across all social classes
• how did gender impact voting in the 2019 general election?


  there was only a slight female bias towards labour
• how did age impact voting in the 2019 general election?


  older people more likely to vote conservative with the tipping point being 39
• how did ethnicity impact voting in the 2019 general election?

  BAME voters continued to favour labour
• what was the turnout of the 2019 general election?


  67%
• what was the turnout of the 1979 election? 


  76%
• what was the turnout of the 1997 election?


  71%