Class

• Class is still a relevant factor as despite the shift from how class is classified, there is still a divide between classes and therefore there are shared experiences within social class. From this shared experience, voting behaviour is influenced as policies that would appeal to one person of a class are likely to appeal to the rest of the class. However, class is often linked to both age and ethnicity and so it is likely to be an amalgamation of the factors that determines voting behaviour rather than class alone
• Ipsos MORI - voters in class D/E (low skilled/unemployed) are more likely to vote Labour. Seen in 2017 general election where 47% of D/E voters chose Labour. In Scotland where SNP won 56 of the 59 seats this was the first time Labour was replaced as the most popular party among D/E voters
• Voters in classes A/B are more likely to vote for the Conservatives with 47% of A/B voters voting Conservative in 2017 General election (Ipsos MORI)
• Class differences likely down to the historic differences between the parties with their policies. Conservatives typically favour low taxes and reduced welfare support thus appealing to those who are wealthier and are less likely to rely on the state, A/B voters
• Labour and now SNP favour policies where wealth is redistributed and provide greater support e.g. higher taxes on the wealthy and higher spending on the welfare state. These policies typically appeal to D/E voters
• 40% of the electorate continue to vote according to their class
• 1979 - Thatcher startled political commentators by launching the Conservative campaign in the Labour supporting Cardiff. This in fact was a way to disassociate the party from being too middle class. Their campaign focused on controlling inflation and confronting trade union power following the excessive number of strikes during the Winter of Discontent. This was so popular that there was an 11% swing to the Conservatives by C2 voters and a 9% swing by D/E voters.
• 1997 - Blair was highly successful at broadening Labour's appeal beyond its core support, increasing Labour's share of votes in all social categories as well as winning in a majority support in all age groups with the progressive appeal of new Labour. 36% to 40% in Labour's overall vote share
• 2019 - In recent years, social class has become far less significant. At all social grades, voters were more likely to vote Conservative than Labour, although when combined with the Lib Dems, SNP, and Green vote, the vote of those categorised as ABC1 was 11% higher than the Conservative vote. 2019 was the first election in recent years where those categorised as C2DE were less likely to vote Labour than Conservative
• Education appears to be a key indicator of voting behaviour as seen since the 2016 EU referendum. The higher the educational qualifications of the voter the more likely they are to vote Labour or Lib Dems with 60% of those educated to a degree level or higher voting for one of those two parties in 2019 compared to only 29% voting Conservative. Those educated to a GCSE level had the opposite outcome where the combined vote share between Labour and Lib Dems was 33% and 61% for the Conservatives. This is a shift in voting behaviour as less well-educated voters traditionally voted Labour