The UK is a largely populated place with many people who are opinionated in politics, so, voting is important to many people as they get their say in who should run the country, however, many factors influence and affect the voting behaviour of the UK voting participates. The following essay intends to discuss what factors, affecting voting behaviour, is more important that the others. It is often said that social class is the key determinant in voting behaviour.
Traditionally, social class has been seen to be the most important factor to be associated with voting behaviour. The social class based system has influence many people’s actions and attitude towards voting as the higher social classes (AB and C1) are more influenced in voting for the Conservative party, whereas, the lower social classes ( C2 and DE) are more influenced in voting for the Labour party.
The positive affect that social class has on voting behaviour is that it is somewhat predictable as the social class voting pattern is seen to be constant, however, the negative aspect of social class affecting voting behaviour is that it produces class dealignment which is when there is a decline in the number of people voting according to their natural class. For example, in the 2010 general elections, the lowest social class (DE) had voted 40% for the Labour party, which was an 8% decrease for the 2005 elections.
The Research paper on Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour Supportive Interventions
Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1. Aims of the Research Study This evaluative Research study looks at Supportive interventions for tackling Antisocial Behaviour (henceforth -ASB), implemented by a Housing trust in London, since the Respect Agenda Standard was launched in 2006. Supportive interventions were introduced by the Respect Agenda Acton plan as a twin-pack approach to be used alongside ...
This means that social class did affect the voting behaviour but in a negative way as the lowest social class was affected by class dealignment, since 8% of voters didn’t vote for the party they were socially meant to, however, this is to an extent as Labour won the highest percentage of votes in the DE class. Therefore, it can be said that social class does have a positive and negative affect on voting behaviour, to an extent as other factors do also have an influence on voting behaviour.
It’s not social class which affects voting behaviour, but it is Gender. The positive thing about gender affecting voting behaviour is that women are more affected by it and they are also considered to hold the key in who wins and losses in elections, however, the negative feature about it is that there tends to be less affect in voting behaviour among the male gender. Traditionally, females tend to vote for the Conservative party, whereas men tend to vote for the Labour party since they tend to have Trade Unions as they use to work in harder conditions.
Now that we live in a more modern world, more and more females are getting jobs and participating in elections. For example, in the 2010 elections, 26% of females voted for the Lib Dem party, this was an increase of 3% since 2005, whereas, there was no change within the males who voted for the Lib Dem party at 22%. This means that the factor gender did affect voting behaviour as there was an increase of female votes, but this is to an extent as there was no change among the male gender, for the Lib Dem party.
Therefore, it can be said that gender does have an effect in voting behaviour but it is to an extent. It’s no longer gender that affects voting behaviour, but it is age. The success of age affecting voting behaviour is that older people are highly more likely to go out and vote than those in other age group as they tend to be more loyal to a party, however, the downfall is that the age group 18-24 is the lowest voting age groups by a long way as they, traditionally, tend to have the lowest voter percentage than any other age group.
The Essay on Voting Behaviour At UK Elections
In recent times it may be argued that personality and image has played a huge part in the voting behaviour of the electorate in the UK. The personality and image may refer to the personality of the party leader and how they present themselves in their campaign. This is a short-term factor and in a time where long-term factors are not said to play a huge role, as there is party de-alignment and a ...
The big difference is that as you get older, you tend to settle down in one place and have more connection to your community meaning that you are more likely to care and vote, but younger people aren’t as connected to their community or politics so they don’t vote as much as the older people do. For example, in the 2010 general elections, there was a 44% turnout rate among people aged 18-24, this is an increase of 7% from 2005, but in the 65+ age group, there was a 76% turnout rate, which is an increase of 1% from 2005.
This means that age does affect voting behaviour as the 18-24 age group had the lowest turnout rate but received the highest percentage increase, from the previous election, than any other group, whereas, the highest voting turnout group by age, 65+, had the lowest percentage increase since 2005. Therefore, it can be said that age does affect voting behaviour in the UK. An important source of political info for voters is through the media.
Media plays a massive role in voting behaviour throughout the UK, whether it be old media or new media, overall, it is extremely influential as it is constantly surrounding us. An advantage of media affecting voting behaviour is that it can shape people’s views and opinions and influence them even more; on the other hand, a disadvantage is that it can only confirm some people’s views. For example, on the 2010 general elections, during the first ever Leaders Debate, more than 50% of
voters said that the debate had an impact on how/whether they cast their vote, furthermore, 12% of those said the debate changed their mind. This means that media had an affect on voting behaviour as the debate impacted over half of voters decision on how they should cast their vote, however, the affect of media on voting behaviour is to an extent as only 3/25th of those had changed their mind, which isn’t as much as it would seem. Therefore, it can be said that media has affected voting behaviour but to an extent as there are other sources of media affecting voting behaviour.
Your ethnicity and religion affect voting behaviour to a great extent. The UK is considered to be a very religious country as it is majorly made up of the Christian faith. The positive aspect of religion affecting voting behaviour is that if you have a religion, you are more likely to vote based upon what religion you are, many people of the catholic faith tend to vote for Labour, however, the negative aspect is that commitment to religion has dropped for many individuals, especially of the Christian religion.
The Essay on Social class is still the determinant of voting behaviour
‘Social class is still the main determinant of voting behaviour.’ Discuss. In some ways, this statement is correct, however, as society is evolving this is becoming less and less apparent. The change in voting behaviour based on classes started to change between 1945 and the 1980s, where the class de-alignment occurred. This was the decline in the relationship between social class and voting. ...
For example, during the 2010 general elections, 81% of Christians voted for Labour, this is a decrease of 8. 3% from 2005. This means that religion does affect voting behaviour as the Christian religion has had the highest percentage in votes for Labour, out of all the religious groups but this is limited as they had a high percentage decrease in votes over the two elections.
Therefore it can be seen that religion does affect voting behaviour in a positive and negative way. The above essay has discussed which factors, affecting voting behaviour, are more important than others. In conclusion, no one factor is important than the other and they all have a significant role in voting behaviour. Overall, all the factors affecting voting behaviour are no more important than the next.
