Voting Behaviours

• Class Voting

  up until the 1970s British voting behaviour was largely influenced by their social class. Largely working class people voted labour and the middle/upper classes voted conservative due to the party's links and ideals. Class voting began to decline in the late 20thC as there was an increase in Class dealignment
• Class Voting - Class and partisan dealignment

  the 50s were a high point for partisan alignment however since then with the blurring of class identification with the 1997 election signalling a large swing of middle-class voters voting Labour under Blair
• Class Voting - Class and Partisan Dealignment

  • Class dealignment = refers to individuals identifying or not identifying with a certain class
  • Partisan Dealignment = refers to the attachment or non-attachment between individuals and a party

  class alignment and partisan alignment usually coincide as if someone strongly identifies with a class they are also likely to strongly identify with the party attached to that class
• Voters behave like consumers: 'Rational choice theory'
• Rational choice theory


  Voters look at the policies of parties and choose which would benefit them the most
• This is due to a growth in the educated electorate with access to political information
• Government competency


  An increasingly popular way to judge and vote for governments
• Voters can be influenced by

  Factors such as inflation, unemployment, interest rates, etc.
• Public image


  Increasingly important to voters as if a PM has a good public image they are more likely to see success
• Regional voting

  closely associated with class with parties having electoral "Heartlands", Labour in the north of England and large Urban areas, Rural areas and the south tend to vote Tory, Scotland and Wales were traditionally Labour but changed to their national parties when powers were devolved
• Age Voting

  Younger generations tend to turn up less to vote but often choose to vote Labour when they do but older generations tend to vote Tory more frequently than younger generations (2017 Election 84% of 70+ people voted)
• Gender-based voting

  female voters are more likely to vote for the Tories over Labour however the difference between men and women isnt that large as over the past 5 elections the difference has not been over 4% between either Labour or Tory in terms of their gender demographic
• Ethnic Group Voting

  ethnic groups that are not British white are more likely to vote Labour (In the last 4 elections 60-70% of BME voters have voted Labour). There is also an overlap with class-based voting here