Social Class And Voting Essay

According to the article, until the 1980s, there was a clear correlation between social class and voting. As a result, the two main parties presented a clear, class-based choice to the electorate. This explains why, in 1970, 88% of all votes went to the two main parties. However, since the 1970s, economic reforms and changing attitudes in society have resulted in a decline in the importance of economic issues and greater concern about social issues. As these issues cross the class-based divisions, they have resulted in class dealignment which has seen people less likely to vote according to their class. This, therefore, shows that class is no longer an imperative factor in how people vote.

The weakening of the class system across the UK has seen the emergence of a more diverse set of political struggles between the parties, most especially at election time. Whilst elections from 1945 to 1992 were more or less a straight contest between Labour and the Conservatives, by 2015, the contest involved at least six key parties - all dealing with issues that crossed class lines. Despite the competition between parties during election campaigns and leadership debates, the results seemed to show an emergence of the Conservative/Labour division, with 82.4% of the vote going to these parties. However, this alone does

For example, in 2015, Labour's Woman to Woman pink minibus visited 75 constituencies, targeting women who did not vote in the previous election. In 2015, 37% of women voted Conservative, compared to 33% who voted Labour. This rose in 2017, with women voting equally 43% for both Conservative and Labour. The general election of 2015 shows that gender was not a crucial factor in determining votes, with only a small male bias toward the Conservatives and UKIP and a slight female bias towards