Democracy: Voting Behavior Models - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages The social class was very important in shaping voting behavior in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s such that Pulitzer considered it as “the basis of British party politics, all else is an embellishment of detail”. Social class, in this case, is divided into middle-class (ABC1), skilled working class (C2) and semi/unskilled working class (DE). People from a similar social class vote in a similar way considered the “natural way” of voting (Fairclough 50). It is believed that the working class votes for labor party while middle-class votes for the conservative party. From 1974 to 2010 election data, this distinction emerges. The middle class voted for the conservative party from 1974 to 1992 in huge numbers as compared to the labor or Liberal Democratic Party (LD). The Conservative lead over Labour party in 1974, 1979, 1983, 1987 and 1992 consecutively were: +37, +35, +39, +36, and +32. However, in the elections that followed, the conservative party lost some support from middle-class who shifted to labor party as evidenced by results. There was no significant change for LD as support remained at the 20s. Fairclough (50) attributes this to class dealignment or deviant voters since they did not vote for a natural class party. De-alignment occurs when middle-class votes for a labor party and working class votes for the conservative party. As regards geographical mobility, when middle-class workers live in residential areas inhabited by working-class, they tend to vote the same way as the working class. ...Download file to see next pagesRead More