voting behaviour and the role of the media in politics

how do different regions of the UK vote?

• the conservatives have continued to do well in area that are predominantly white, rural or suburban and socially conservative
• since 2005 Labour party support has contracted to industrial urban areas in South Wales, the industrial north and London
• urban areas are now increasingly labour strongholds and less inclined to vote conservative
• scottish voters have very different concerns and priorities from the rest of the UK
• labour has lost its dominance in Scotland after concentrating on winning seats in england, while 2017 saw the establishment of the conservative party as the main opposition in Scotland
• in southeast england, traditional party politics is becoming far more divided, with votes for UKIP and the Green Party reducing support for the 3 traditional parties
• scotland- left wing, traditionally labour, since 2015 there has been an SNP dominance, return of unionist parties in 2017; opposition to london, specific social and economic positions, impact of devolution
• wales- heavy labour bias, strong levels of support for the conservatives; industrial areas favour labour, rural areas vote conservative or lib dem, far west is more likely to vote nationalist
• northern ireland- has own party system, split between unionist and nationalist parties; party votes reflect religious and cultural divisions 
• london- majority labour; increasing ethnic diversity, greater economic disparity, reliance on public services, more socially liberal 
• rural england- overwhelmingly conservative; mostly white, economically and socially conservative
• industrial north of england- mostly labour; higher levels of unemployment, greater rates of poverty and urban decay, greater ethnic diversity
• the home counties- predominantly conservative; london commuter belt, made up of C1, B and A classes, mostly white, more conservative than london, economically prosperous

how do class, gender, age and ethnicity affect voting?

class

• A- higher managerial and professional workers e.g. business owners, judges
• B- middle managers and professionals e.g. store managers, teachers, lawyers
• C1- clerical workers e.g. office clerks, secretaries
• C2- skilled manual workers e.g. builders, electricians, plumbers
• D- semi skilled and unskilled workers e.g. day labourers, factory workers
• E- unemployed, pensioners, those unable to work
• until the 80s class often determined how a person would vote
• Classes A, B and C1- middle class, tended to vote conservative
• classes C2, D and E- working class, tended to vote labour
• each party had a set of core voters from a distinct social class- economic factors were the top concern for many people
• the two main parties presented a clear, class based choice to the electorate
• 1970- 88% of all votes went to the main parties
• since the 70s- economic reforms and changing attitudes in society, decline in the importance of economic issues
• greater concern about social issues- immigration, civil and human rights, crime, welfare provision, attitudes to sex and sexuality, britain's position in the world
• resulted in class dealignment- voters less likely to be loyal to one party and taking into consideration multiple issues
• increase in floating voters
• elections between 1945 and 1992 were a straight contest between Labour and the conservatives
• by 2015 the contest involved…