A-Level Politics: Class influence in Voting Behaviour.
Modern Studies Voting Behaviour Essay; Modern Studies Voting Behaviour Essay. 1360 Words 6 Pages. Voting Behavior Long term factors that may influence voting behavior over a long period of time include: Social class Gender Age Religion Ethnicity Social Class “Class is the basis of British party politics: all else is embellishment and detail” (Pulzer) Social class is one of the fundamental.
Social class political alignment was at its height in the 1950s and 1960s with the majority of voters voting for the party affiliated to their social class (for example, the working class were likely to vote Labour, and the middle class was likely to vote conservative). Since then many political scientists have identified a trend in social dealignment where voters are now not as likely to vote.
Personality and image does play a huge part in voting behaviour and will continue to do so in 2015, where Ed Milliband’s leadership will come into question and could affect Labour’s chances a lot. However, it is still not enough to suggest that personality and image are larger determinants in voting behaviour than on the basis of policies or performance in office. It is difficult to see.
The study of voting behaviour can be roughly divided into long-term and short-term influences. Long-term influences include social class, gender, race, culture, religion, age, education, housing tenure and simple long-term political alignment (when people just say “I’m Labour” for instance). Short-term influence include the performance of the governing party, major issues, the electoral.
Measures of class voting show clearly the decline in class voting for the Conservative and Labour parties. Greater volatility of voting and weaker party identification are also indicators of this. A recent study of British elections, Political Choice in Britain, found that valence issues were a gave a better explanation of voting than class or any other social factor.
Primacy approaches advocating social class to be one of the most fundamental factors in voting behaviour have come into conflict with advocates of the recency approach which places a greater weight on public perception of the party, as well as recent events in determining which way the electorate will vote. I will explore the various influences on voting behaviour in Britain to discover.
To explain if social class continues to affect voting behaviour in Britain, it is necessary to look at voting behaviour prior to the 1970s for effective comparison. Following the end of the WWII, voting behaviour was a predictable affair. The most common feature of voting at this time was Class Voting. This was the name given to the pattern of voting behaviour where the working class people.