Social Factors

What “letter” is associated with high and middle classes?

A- professional upper middle class

B- Middle class

Who does C1 represent?

Lower middle class

Who does C2,D,E mainly represent?

Working class

What is partisan dealignment?

Refers to the way in which voters since 1970s have abandoned traditional party loyalties and instead made their voting choices based on a range of factors including governing competence, the salience of core issues and economic self-interest.

What were general elections from 1956-1970 defined by?

Defined by the effectiveness with which labour and conservative parties succeeded in mobilising their core vote.

Who did the conservatives generally rely on for support?

A,B C1 voters

Who did labour generally rely on for support?

C2, D and E voters.

What percentage of AB voters did conservative Alec-Douglas-Home win in the 1964 general election?

78%

what percentage of DE voters did Labours Harold Wilson win in the 1964 general election?

64%

What was Enoch Powells “Rivers of blood” speech in 1968 and what was the significance?

* Significant numbers of why working class felt that immigration would be more tightly controlled by the conservatives.
* Powell strongly criticised immigration- issue voting now could determine a general election

What is class dealignment?

Suggests that voters are much les likely to vote according to their membership of a particular social class.

What did Public anger at the “winter of discontent” lead to?

Led to significant class dealignment in the 1979 general election .

What was the significance of Margaret Thatcher and what did she do?

Launched her conservative campaign in about supporting Cardiff to de-associate themselves with only representing the middle class

* campaigns focus on controlling inflation and confronting trade union power after excessive strikes was so popular that there was an 11% swing to the conservatives by C2 voters and 9%s swing by DE voters.

What was the swing towards the conservatives in 1979 for C2 voters and DE voters?

C2- 11%

DE- 9%

Why was Tony Blair successful?

* Successful at broadening labours appeal far beyond core support
* Increased labours share of the vote in all categories
* Won a majority in all all groups with the progressive “new labour”

What was the influence of corbyn in the 2017 GE among AB voters?

Middle classes swung to labour

Why did Theresa May make striking gains among DE voters?

* Pro-Europeans in higher social categories wanted to punish the conservatives for Brexit by voting labour.
* DE voters felt conservatives would be more likely to deliver Brexit and control immigration.

Where do conservatives tend to do better?

* south east
* Ethnically white rural parts of the Uk are conservative territory (eg Devon, Cumbria or Northumberland)

Where does Labour tend to dominate?

* Ethically diverse big cities
* Large working class populations
* Major centres of industrial production (eg south wales)

What percentage of London voted for labour in the 2017 General election?

55%

What percentage of the south voted for the conservatives in 2017?

54%

Why do often seats not change hands in a general election?

* The inbuilt majority that a party has in a particular region.

How many seats changed hands in the 2017 General Election?

71/650 seats

11% of total number

Where are the key battlegrounds that have disproportionally decided the result of the general election?

London and the midlands- labour and conservative focus especially on these areas to win the marginal seats.

What completely changed the political landscape in Scotland?

The SNPS high profile independence campaign during the 2014 general election.

In the 2015 general election how many seats did SNP win?

* 56/59 seats

How many seats did the conservatives win in Scotland 1997/2015/2017?

1997- 0

2015- 1

2017- 13

What has damaged conservative success in Greater London?

* Soaring cost of home ownership
* Dramatic levels of inequality

What further damaged conservative success in 2016?

* London voted decisively to remain in the EU and now London voters closely associate the conservatives with euro scepticism.

How many seats did Labour win in London 2010/2015/2017?

2010- 38 seats

2015- 45 seats

2017- 49 seats

Which labour constituency did conservatives Brexit and immigration policy help them win?

Mansfield- labour since 1923.

Why have the conservatives traditionally appealed to older voters?

* Lower taxation
* Strong national defence
* Lake and order
* Brexit
* Home owners

Why do labour traditionally appeal to younger voters?

* social justice
* Environment

How did Jeremy Corbyn successfully connect with young people?

* Emphasised that labour was on the side of “the many not the few”
* Pledged to abolish tuition fees
* Commitment to solving world problems through international organs of global governance such as the United Nations.

What percentage of 18-24 year olds voted for Labour in 2017?

62%

What percentage of 65+ year olds voted for conservative in 2017?

61%

Why have the conservatives benefitted from greater support of an older population ?

Older people are more likely to vote- inbuilt advantage.

What encouraged young people to vote in 2017?

Jeremy Corbyns campaign youth focused campaign encouraged more young people to vote than in any other general election since 1992- still significant imbalance

What was the turnout of 18-24 year olds and 65+ in 2017?

18-24 year olds- 54% voted

65+- 71% and make up more proportion of the Uk population

When have conservatives and labour been at their most successful ?

When they were able to reach beyond their core age support

What lead did Blair have in 1997 over the conservatives in 65+ category?

5% lead.

Why have common wealth immigrant communities been more likely to vote labour?

* Generally within c2,D,E classes
* Welfare policies
* Trade union movement
* Commitment towards multi-culturalism - provided first race relations act 1965 to outlaw discrimination.
* “Rivers of blood speech” made them hostile to the conservatives.

How many seats did Corbyn win in Greater London due to empathy towards immigrant communities ?

49/73 seats

How were those who had had higher education amd compromised of top social brackets most likely to vote pre 2017?

Conservative

Why was the 2017 general election surprising in terms of education?

People with a degree or higher- 48% labour

No qualifications- 52%

Why may this be?

Conservatives have won the vote of white working class by aligning themselves with stricter immigration polices- increasing their support by whit working class who feel threatened by globalisation and voted for Brexit.

Labours more liberal approach to immigration and Brexit has led to a dramatic increase in support among the better educated.

How did the conservatives appeal to house wives from 1945-1980?

* labour associated with sending inflation into a spiral
* Labour Associated with male dominated trade unionism.

How did Margaret Thatcher secure the vote of house wives in 1979?

* Articulated Women’s concerns that the labour government had allowed inflation to undermine family finances and that irresponsible trade unionism was pulling society apart.

What percentage of females voted for thatcher in 1979?

47%