voting behaviour and the media

• in light of the UAE trying to buy three important conservative leaning news publications (the telegraph, the Sunday telegraph, the spectator) there is concern that an influential section of uk media would be under control of a regime who shows little respect for press freedom
• a number of existing UK media bosses use their ownership of core media to promote their own agenda's. for example: Evgeny Lebedev co-owns the evening standard and the independent, Murdoch owns the times and the sun
• labour won two by-elections in conservative heartlands Bedford and Tamworth by 20% - this could suggest that competence is playing a role in elections
• support for the conservatives among degree holders has significantly declined in the past two elections with a drop of 15% from 2015
• there are 25 conservative constituencies with a slim majority and an increase in degree holders in their area which may help swing the next election
• historically, higher education has led to a higher chance of wealth and therefore a higher chance of rejecting redistributive left wing parties. but, there has now been a shift toward these voters voting centre left
• in 2019 non graduates were 7.7 percentage points more likely to support conservatives
• You Gov estimates that the chance of someone voting conservative increases by 9 points with every 10 years of age
• in the 2019 election labour won 88 seats in which over a quarter of the population was aged 18 to 34
• in the 2019 election the conservatives won 65 seats where more than a quarter of the population was 65 or older
• in the 20th century women were more likely than a man to back the conservatives but this has flipped in the 21st century
• in the 2019 election the average British women was more likely to have backed labour than the average man by 13 points
• one reason why labour is more popular with women is that women are more likely to enter higher eduction with 57% of graduates being women
• women are also more likey to be making decisions about their children's care or education making these issues more salient to them contributing to them voting more left
• in the 2017 election Johnson benefited from a lack of voter trust in Corbyn. while they also distrusted Johnson they perceived corbyn to be even less competent
• it can bee argued that the 2010 election was lost by the government rather than won by the opposition: even though Cameron's polls were low with only 33% of people placing him as the most capable Prime minister - he was still able to beat Brown who was seen as being uninspiring, cowardly, and boring
• in the 1979 election Callaghan was defeated by Thatcher even though Thatcher's policy wasn't particularly popular. this was mainly because of Callaghan's incompetence in dealing with the winter of discontent
• In the 2010 election, the 2008 financial crash had wrecked New Labourʼs reputation of being economically competent that had played a key role in winning them the previous three elections leading to them losing the 2010 election
• in the 2019 general election the conservatives had a 47 point lead among voters over 65
• over 65 year olds are 25% more likely to turnout than 18-24 year olds
• 57% of homeowners voted conservative in the 2019 election
• in the 2019 general election 59% of those who had GCSE's as their highest qualification voted conservatives
• labour received 43% of the vote from degree holders compared to 29% received by the conservatives