Voting Behaviour

Deviant voting

Voting not to whats expected ,seen i 2019 where conservatives gained working class votes in hopes to get brexit done by giving Boris a larger majority

Aspirational Voting

Voting to display aspiration to climb social class, seen With Margaret Thatcher where labour voters voted in hopes that thatcher would financially benefit them with policies like homeownership, free market etc

Class Dealignment

Decline of traditional voting based on class,no longer consistently suppporting a part based on their social class

Example of Class dealignment

-Labour’s loyal constituencies amongst the ’Red Wall’ collapsed due to Labours confusing stance on brexit and the decline of trade unions attachment to labours traditional base

Partisan Dealignment

Voters no longer feel attached to a political party leading to more float voters

Example of partisan dealignment

seen in 2015 where SNP support made huge gains in Scotland from a typically labour Scotland

‘Winter of Discontent’ - James Callaghan

Winter of 1978 , widespread strikes and industrial unrest. Unions went on strike including bin collectors, gravediggers and transport workers - this damaged the Labour Party Leading to a conservative landslide

‘Black Wednesday’ - John Major

1992, UK was forced to withdraw the Pound from ERM after failing to keep its value stable, the government spent million trying to defend the currency and stabilise it, the UK recovered by allowing lower interest rates.

Exit Polls

After Votes are casted , samples of selected groups at polling station will be asked who they voted for, and results are realised at 10PM on the election day immediately after polls close

Opinion Polls

Before voting stations open polling firms like ‘YouGov’ randomly sample groups of people to estimate voter preference. Parties can pay to track their popularity amongst the electorate.

Example of Opinion Polls being effective

2022 , reflected public outrage towards Boris Johnson and the conservatives leading to conservatives to ditch Boris as a electoral liability

Example of Opinion Polls being ineffective

2017 General Election, was predicted to be conservative landslide ,this reduced conservative urgencies to campaign in more constituencies leading to a minority conservative Government as prediction was overexaggerated