Voting Behaviour - Introduction to Voting Behaviour

  • People who study psephology study voting ways/behaviour in elections and why people will want in a particular way.
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.
    Wales
    		 Heavy 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 Ireland
    		 Has its own party system with a split between unionists and nationalists
    		 Votes reflect religion
    Cultural Divisions.
    London
    		 Majority of Labour voters
    		 Ethnic diversity is increasing
    Reliance on public services which Labour deal with.
    Rural England
    		 Overwhelmingly Tory
    		 Mostly white
    Economically conservative.
    Industrial North Of England
    		 Mostly Labour
    		 High levels of unemployment
    Greater rates of poverty
    More ethnic diversity
    Home Counties
    		 Conservative
    London Commuter Belt (C1, B & A)
    Mostly white
    Economically prosperous.
     
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