4. VOTING BEHAVIOUR AND THE MEDIA
VOTING BEHAVIOUR – IS IT PREDICTABLE?
SOCIAL FACTORS
SOCIAL CLASS
- Different types of classes:
AB: Higher, Professional, 22.17% of the population
C1: Administrative, Middle, 30.84% of the population
C2: Skilled manual, 20.94% of the population
DE: Semi-skilled or unemployed, 26.05% of the population
- Traditionally, upper-class people tended to vote for
Conservative and workers voted for the party of the
working class, e.g., Labour
- Both major parties have strong roots within communities
- Usually because traditionally, the Conservative
governments were perceived to favour the middle class
and Labour developed policies to help lower classes
- Can be backed up from:
CLASS AB VOTING CONSERVATIVE:
1964 – 78%
1997 – 59%
CLASS DE VOTING LABOUR
1964 – 64%
1997 – 59%
- However, some lower classes wouldn’t vote Labour as
they aspired to be middle-class
- Correlation between AB and Conservative has always been
strong. Only a few swings voters
- Decline in voting depending on class has changed with the
proportion of AB voting Tory declining from 78% in 1964
to 40% in 2010
- Could be due to New Labour’s achievement in attracting
the middle-class support
2019 – 30% of AB voted Labour
, - Also, many members of the C2 and DE classes voted for
the Conservatives in the 2019 general election in
order to achieve Brexit. C2: 47% and DE: 41%
- Can be shown also through 17% of C2 voters voting
UKIP in 2015
GENDER
- Means how it appeals to women and equality
- Over the years parties have made strategies to target
female voters.
Labour:
2017 pledge to conduct a gender-impact
assessment on all policies and legislation
2015 “Women to Women” pink minivan visiting
75 constituencies in order to get more women
to vote (sexist?)
David Cameron and Blair’s commitment to
increasing the number of female MPs
- While politicians clearly believe these strategies are
important, it’s not clear there is a ‘woman’s vote’, as they
tend to vote, like men, based on politics rather than
gender”
1997 – M: 31%, W: 32%
1997 – M: 45%, W: 44%
- However, since 1997, women have been more likely to
vote Labour than men, perhaps due to the changing
societal roles and changes within parties.
The 1970s and Early 80s – Conservative party was
seen as the ‘housewives’ party which sought to
keep prices low in order to allow mothers to run an
effective home
Labour, however, was dominated by Trade Unions
from heavy industries that were largely male and
focused on the rights and benefits of working men,
rather than issues relating to the home
- Largely unpredictable, however in 2019 more women
voted Labour than men, however, they tended to be in the
younger age gap with 65% of 18-24-year-olds voting
compared to only 46% of male voters.
, EDUCATION
- In the 60s those more likely with an education were
middle-class and therefore more likely to vote
Conservative
- Those working in the heavy industry did not require higher
levels of education so, therefore, were more likely to be
from poorer backgrounds and therefore vote Labour
- However, with education being compulsory until 16, this
divide is less clear in addition to access to more
universities and courses. 2017 – 50% of all school
leavers went on to achieve some sort of higher
education
- Some say education has a ‘liberalising effect’
- Voters are more likely to vote for Labour / Lib Dems the
higher the education.
2017 – 47% Labour /Lib Dem
2017 – 36% Conservative
2017 – 4% UKIP
- Voters without any formal qualifications were more likely
to vote Conservative
2017 – 23% Labour
2017 – 53% Conservative
2017 – 17% UKIP
- Those with only GCSEs are more likely to vote for right-
wing parties (62%)
- Those with A Levels are still more likely to vote right-wing
but less drastically (49%)
- Explains why Tories have gained lower classes and Labour
higher
- Perhaps explains why Labour has been more focused on
socio-liberal politics which traditional working class would
have opposed.
