Voting Behaviour

1
Voting Behaviour

• Social Class.

2
The Basics.

• In the development of democracy in Britain,
  economic class became one of the most important
  factors in voting. This was especially true in
  the 19502 to 60s.
• Now there are many more important determinants in
  voting behaviour including gender, age, ethnicity
  ect. However today it still remains the most
  significant factor.
• It was seen that the members of the working class
  tended to vote for left wing parties, and those
  of the middle classes were more for right wing
  parties.
• However from the 1970s onward, social class
  declined as a factor in electoral voting
  behaviour.
• The 1970s and 1980s displayed quite substantial
  realignment to third parties.
• Class is the basis of British party politics
  all else is embellishment and detail.
  PJ Pulzer
  Political Representation and elections in
  Britain, Allen Unwin, 1967

3
Social class distribution of the electorate.

• A. Upper Managerial 4
• B. Lower Managerial and Professional 25
• C1. Other non-manual 22
• C2. Skilled Manual Workers 27
• D. Semi-Skilled Manual Workers 16
• E. Unskilled Manual Workers 5
• Other 1
• From the above figures we can see that the
  majority of vote comes from the middle class or
  above which can be why a right-wing government is
  much more likely to be formed.
• Two-thirds of the working class regularly voted
  labour
• Four-fifths of the middle class voted
  conservative.

4
What can influence voting behaviour?

• Dealignment is a weakening relationship between
  social class and party support.
• It is a decline in the class basis of British
  politics.
• In the table opposite we can see the ratio of
  votes compared to social class. From it we can
  conclude that the voting working class has rose
  compared to middle class, however many working
  class feel more middle and so a more
  individualistic government is likely to win the
  elections.
• Go on the link below to watch a video for more
  information ?
• http//uk.youtube.com/watch?vzdknVQETRbE