voting behaviour

• what are the three theories in voting behaviour?

  sociological - voting behaviour linked to the membership of a group

  party identification - people have an emotional attachment to a particular party

  issue voting - voters choose the party they think will most likely benefit them
• how can social class be seen as decreasing in importance for voting behaviour?


  In 2010 only 38% of voters were 'class voters' in comparison to 66% in 1966
• how can party loyalty be seen to be decreasing as a tell of voting behaviour?


  In 2005 only 10% of those surveyed claimed to have a 'very strong' attachment to a party in comparison to 44% in 1964
• how can gender be seen to impact voting behaviour?


  traditionally women supported the conservatives but this changed in the 1990s under new labour - gender no longer as accurate an indicator

  in 2015 men more likely to vote conservative amongst the under-50s
• how can age be seen to impact voting behaviour?


  levels of conservative support increase with age
• how can ethnicity be seen to impact voting behaviour?

  in 2015, ethnic minority groups were 42% more likely to vote labour than conservative
• how can region be seen to impact voting behaviour?


  historically labour had more support in the north of england and conservatives in the south

  however, boris johnson can be seen to have broken the red wall in 2019 general election
• what are the main reasons for partisan dealignment?

  increased education, impact of the media, ideological change
• what are the suggested explanations for class dealignment?

  changing class system, cross-class locations, embourgeoisement
• until the 1970s, how did different social classes tend to vote?

  A, B, C1 - conservative

  C2, D, E - labour
• how can social class be seen as no longer important in the 2019 general election?


  the conservatives outperformed labour across all social grades. The conservatives actually did better in C2DE voters with 48% than ABC1 voters with 43%
• what was the gender gap in voting in 2019?

  conservatives - 46% men, 44% women

  labour - 31% men, 35% women
• how can age be seen as a factor in the EU referendum?


  73% of 18-24 voters backed remain, 60% of 65+ voters backed leave
• what was the conservatives share of the british indian vote in 2017?

  40% in comparison to 30% in 2010
• what percentage of the country voted for different parties across the three elections from 2010 to 2017?

  49%
• what is rational choice theory?

  the idea that individuals make rational choices and achieve outcomes which are aligned with their best interests
• how can party image be seen to impact voting behaviour?

  labour had a party image issue in the 1980s due to being seen as closely linked to the unions - under Blair + new moderate ideas the image was transformed

  camerons new conservative image = 5% swing from labour to conservative in 2010
• what is an example of the campaign impacting voting behaviour?

  John major + his soapbox politics in 1992 general election
• what percentage of people voted for their expected party based on their class in 1979?

  51%
• what percentage of people in 2010 voted for their class's party?

  38%