- People who study psephology study voting ways/behaviour in elections and why people will want in a particular way.
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Long-Term Voting Behaviour (Primacy):Short-Term Voting Behaviour (Regency):
Social Class
Immigration
Family Views
Zero Hours Contracts
Populism
Tuition Fees
Age
NHS
Religion
Brexit
Ethnic Minorities
Media
Geography (Location)
Party Leaders
Gender
Occupation
- In the 1940/50/60s class was the most important factor in voting
- Peter Pulzar said “Class is the basis of all British politics”
- Two men called Buttler and Stokes introduced the idea of class alignment.
- Partisan Alignment is a sense of duty or loyalty towards one party
- However, all of the above reasons are not as strong today as we have floating voters who vote for a different party in each election.
- Voting was once predictable but nowadays it is more volatile.
- In the 2017 election, we learnt that class is no longer an issue as AB classes voting was much closer than the previous election with AB coming in at 46 for the Tories and 38 for the Labour party whereas in 2015 it was a 45-26 spread. More working-class people voted Tory down for the Labour Party, skilled workers voted for Tory which again was down for the Labour Party in 2015 to 32.Area In UK:Who They Vote For:Why:Scotland
Mainly left wing (Labour) however in 2015 the rise of SNP has been dominant. Return of the unionist parties in 2017 (Tory).
Impacts devolution
New right policies.
WalesHeavy bias with Labour but a strong sense of support for Conservatives. Rural Wales prefer Tory and far west is Nationalist.
Industrial areas prefer labour
Lots of working class people prefer Labour
Northern IrelandHas its own party system with a split between unionists and nationalists
Votes reflect religion
Cultural Divisions.
LondonMajority of Labour voters
Ethnic diversity is increasing
Reliance on public services which Labour deal with.
Rural EnglandOverwhelmingly Tory
Mostly white
Economically conservative.
Industrial North Of EnglandMostly Labour
High levels of unemployment
Greater rates of poverty
More ethnic diversityHome CountiesConservative
London Commuter Belt (C1, B & A)Mostly whiteEconomically prosperous.