Voting Patterns

• AB class


  Higher managerial administrative professional occupations such as bankers and doctors.
• C1 class


  Supervisory and junior managerial administrative professional occupations such as teachers and IT managers.
• C2 class


  Skilled manual occupations such as plumbers and mechanics.
• DE class


  Semi-skilled and unskilled manual occupations including bar staff and the unemployed.
• Floating/swing voter

  A voter who tends to vote unpredictably in different elections and who is liable to change the way they vote fairly often and who does not identify closely with any party.
• The sociological model


  Electors adopt a pattern of voting that reflects the economic and social position of the group(s) they belong to.
• Party identification model


  Voting is an expression of an emotional attachment that people have to a party.
• Issue voting model


  Voters vote for the party they think is most likely to benefit them.
• Core voters


  Voters who will invariably support one of other of the main parties.
• What patterns do core voters fall into?

  Patterns based on social class and region.
• Partisian dealignment


  The process where individuals no longer identify themselves on a long-term basis being associated with a certain political party.
• Five categories that impact voting patterns


  Region, Age, Class, Ethnicity and Gender.
• Disillusion and Apathy


  A process of disengagement with politics and political activity.
• Abstention


  When people (especially the young) refuse to vote - not on the basis of apathy but because they wish to protest on the state of politics.
• Valence Voting/Positional Voting


  Voters decide on who to vote for based on their general impression of how a party and its leader will perform.
• Rational Choice Model


  Voters with no strong allegiance make a rational choice at each election and base their vote on the result.
• Salience/issue voting


  What the most important issue at the time is.
• Instrumental vs Expressive Voting


  Expressive voting - Intended to only signal support or demonstrate civic responsibility.

  Instrumental voting - Intended to actually change the outcome.
• Self-interested Voting


  Voting for matter to that individual person.
• Altruistic Voting


  Voting for a party that will best benefit society as a whole.
• Strategic/Tactical/Sophisticated/Insincere Voting


  Occurs in voting systems when a voter votes for another candidate or party than their sincere preference to prevent an undesirable outcome.
• Deviant Voting


  When a person does not vote in the way we would expect based on class.
• Valence Issues


  - How generally competent the previous government was and how competent voters think other parties would be in government.

  - How economically competent the government was and the other parties likely to be

  - How strong and "prime ministerial" the leader of the party is.
• Governing Competency


  The perceived ability of the governing party in office to manage the affairs of the state well and effectively.
• Qualities the public normally cite as important in a leader:

  - Record in office

  - Compassion

  - Decisiveness

  - Apparent honesty and sincerity

  - Strong leadership

  - Communication skills

  - Clear vision
• Psephology


  The statistical study of trends and voter behaviour