factors affecting party success

policies

a party’s policies should be the most important factor when deciding how to vote

for example thachers’s radical agenda in 1979 enthused the country as did Blair in 1997

leaders

• leadership can make a key difference to the success of a party. charismatic leaders are often trusted more by voters which may result in voters ignoring other factors

• leaders who look strong and fresh such as Blair tend to be successful whereas leaders who appear weak such as Ed Miliband often struggle to get voter attention

campaign

• in general campaigns rarely make a difference to the outcome of elections. there may be a slight widening or tightening in opinion polls but, generally, a party with a clear lead at the beginning of a campaign tends to win even if there are occasional mishaps such as john prescott’s punch in 2001

• when polls are tight campaigns make more of a difference on these occasions a party wins by a small majority

• however 2017 broke all political assumptions showing the significance of campaigns May was 20 points ahead in the polls when she called the election in April by June she lost her majority and was seen as an ineffective leader and PM

• Jeremy Corbyn smashed another widely accepted fact that once the electorate have made their mind up about you its impossible to change being hailed as the new socialist messiah

media

• the influence of the media cannot be underestimated

• it had been said that if you have the support of the sun you have a good chance of winning the election more recently social media platforms have taken on the older media and are seen as a force to be reckoned with.

party unity

• disunity in political parties is damaging voters like to feel that the party they vote for has a clear vision for governing

• for example the conservatives under john major

wider political context

• the context of a campaign can be crucial in determining an election if a party has been in power too long brand fatigue may set in and governing parties are likely to make mistakes and lose credibility with voters

• for example in the run up to the 1979 and 2010 elections the governing party had gained a poor reputation for economic competence and voters reacted badly to this

• the electorate also don’t like politicians to engage in sleazy activities whether they are scandals relating to sex financial misconduct or expenses in the 1992 1997 and 2010 elections this had an impact on the result

opposition

• the quality of the opposition has an effect on how successful a party may be. on the one hand, the opposition has less experience than the government which holds the experience and status of office

• equally the gov has a track record which a skillful opp can exploit

• the success of the labour campaign in 1997 was partly down to their ability to exploit majors gov to their advantage