Voting behaviour 20 marker PDF

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2015 – To what extent are some factors more important than others in influencing voting behaviour? 20 marks

Social Class Social class can be a significant influence on voting behaviour. Traditionally, social class has been very important in terms of voting. It used to be said that “class is the basis of british party politics” Voters in higher social classes were traditionally much more likely to support the conservatives while voters in lower social classes were traditionally much more likely to support labour. Recent evidence suggests that around 40% of voters still continue to vote according to their social class. However, social class and voting can be argued to be less of a factor influencing voting behaviour as its declining while short term factors have been overtaking it. The weakening Change between one's social class and party support is on the rise. This means that people vote based on a party’s policies rather than their own social class now and this was evident in the 2015 general election when lower classes supported the conservatives in higher numbers than usual while Labour lost support from this group. Therefore, although social class has been often seen as an important factor affecting voting behaviour, it is becoming less important while other short term factors such as party campaigns have bigger impacts t on voters now.

Age Age is an influencing factor in voting behaviour as voters are more likely to vote for parties targeting issues faced by different age groups. This is because the elderly are more likely to be at the top of their earnings and therefore support more conservative views such as lower taxation on higher earners. In the 2017 General Election, 69% of those over the age of 70 voted Conservatives. However, younger voters are less likely to vote for parties that focus on taxation and are less likely to vote Conservative. This is because younger voters are more concerned about issues regarding education and youth unemployment, which are problems that parties like Labour, and more recently the SNP, are keen to tackle. In the 2017 General Election, 66% of 18-19 year olds voted Labour. Therefore, age is a very important factor in influencing voting behaviour as an older voter with high savings will vote for parties that decrease tax rates and younger voters will vote for parties that target issues that young people face in education and the workforce.

Gender Gender can be seen to have little influence on voting behaviour. This is because generally between men and women, there is little difference in party choices and voting behaviour. For example, in the 2017 General election men and women had voted similarly, with 40% of men voting Labour and 42% of women voting Labour showing there is little difference in voting choice by gender. However looking at it by age, there is quite a significant difference in voting behaviour between genders, younger women are more likely to vote for labour because of their policies, these are policies such as welfare and family support e.g tax credit and minimum wage making it more appealing for younger women, for example in the recent election by age 73% of 18-24 year old women voted for labour over any other party. Therefore by gender there is very little difference in voting behaviour between men and women, but looking at it by age younger women are more likely to be influenced to vote labour, this is still a very insignificant difference and men and women still generally vote in the same way.

Geography Geography is an important factor in influencing voting behaviour as voters are more likely to side with parties that tackle issues faced by people in their local area, rather than voting for those who do not plan on reducing problems in their community. This is because there is a North-South divide, which means that people in the South/South-East are more likely to vote Conservative as employment rates are higher and so are incomes. This is the opposite for the North/North-West where people are more likely to vote for Labour or SNP in Scotland. The divide was especially evident in 2015 where the SNP won 56 out of 59 seats in Scotland whereas the Conservatives won 79 seats in the South-East. However, the North and South divide was not as evident in the 2017 General Election, much more people in Scotland voted Conservative. The Conservatives won 13 seats in Scotland in 2017, the most they have had since 1983. This shows that geography is not as influential of a factor than others because the north south divide isn’t as prominent anymore as people in the North/North-West vote Conservative and people in the South/South-East vote Labour.

Ethnicity Ethnicity can be a significant influence on voting behaviour. Ethnic minority groups are more likely to vote for Labour as they are more closely associated with equality legislation and immigration. In the 2017 General Election, 65% of ethnic minorities had voted Labour. However, ethnic minorities are also likely to vote based on their socio-economic class. Those from ethnic minority backgrounds are more likely to experience lower income levels and higher unemployment, compared to white groups. For example, in 2013, the unemployment rate for black men was at 49%, which was double that of white men. Therefore, ethnicity has significant impact on voting behaviour as ethnicity can determine social class, and in turn, both can determine party choice and voting behaviour. This is proven in the 2015 general election the conservatives secured only 23 % of the ethnic vote as for labour which got 65%. However, ethnicity may not be the exact reason, it actually could be their social-economic class. As ethnic minorities make less and are more likely to be unemployed, Labour’s policies are much more fitting to them, rather than the

Conservatives who mainly focus on higher classes within society.

Issue Voting Issue voting is an important factor in influencing voting behaviour to an limited extent. Issue voting, also to referred to as the rational choice model, is when voters vote for an party depending on their policies on issues important to them as voters.For example, in 2015 managing the economy was seen an very important issue to voters and the Conservatives were consistently seen to have the best policies on economy and won the election. However voters don’t always vote because of an issue. For example, healthcare was an incroeasing important issue for voters in the run up to the election and became the most important issue by january. Labour were seen to have the best policies on this issue, in spite of this the conservatives still won. therefore issue voting is important as a lot of voters feel very strong about various issues such as economy but it is not a main focus for most voters which limits its importance.

Leader Image Leader image is an important factor that influences voting behaviour, leader image is the way party leaders influence voters through the use of their body language, behaviour and speaking style. It is important that the party leaders have a good image and portray confidence and capability. The introduction of live televised debates for the first time in 2010 made leader image even more important in influencing the voters. For example, David Cameron had 48% of dissatisfied people in the run up to the 2015 election, having the lowest percentage of dissatisfaction out of all the party leaders. David Cameron had a good leader image as he was voted to be thought as the best in a crises, able to deal with the challenges of the 21st century and the most capable before the election. It would appear leader image played a significant role in the 2015 General Election results as David Cameron won the election. Furthermore, some party leaders party image is influencing voters to not vote for them or their party and is deterring them away. Nigel Farage had a bad leadership image in 2015 because he was seen ‘drinking beer on the street’, as a result 56% of people were dissatisfied with him and only 6% of people thought he was capable to be prime minister in 2013. This shows that leader image is an important factor when it comes to influencing voters to support their chosen leaders of parties, because leaders with a good image such as David Cameron get more votes than leaders with a bad image like Nigel Farage.

Media Factors such as media has a significant influence in voting behaviour. Media provides voters with the most important and relevant information about their chosen political parties. Through platforms such as television and newspapers, voters have access to stay up to date with their chosen party and the other parties activity. For example, a survey that panelbase conducted showed that 62% of the public agreed with the statement that television was ‘by far the most influential media source in 2015 general election. However, in situations such as the first televised debate in 2015 where Nick Clegg appeared well and people warmed to him, in the opinion polls the lib dems had risen by over 10 points. This however was not reflected in the actual election. Due to this a large majority of people also seek political party information from newspapers due to the fact that newspapers have the freedom of being biased to a particular party. Newspapers are free to report the news and politics as they decide and it is argued that newspaper support is crucial to electoral success. For example, the mirror are supporters of labour and 67% of the mirrors buyers are also labour supporter, this also applies to the telegraph. The telegraph are supporters of conservatives and 69% of their buyers support the same party. This show that media has a large impact in voting behaviour and is one of the most important factors for influencing the voters....