| What is Tactical Voting and why is it Practised?
-Which Small Parties will go for the Big Parties? | -Tactical Voting is when people vote Against their Best Interests as they know their First Choice has no chance to Win - It would be a Wasted Vote
-The Votes go to their Second Interest, or for the Candidate that will Beat the Party they hate most
-The Greens may vote for Labour to prevent Conservative
-UKIP or Reform UK may go for Conservative preventing Labour |
| Why is Tactical Voting Important? | -Electoral Reform Society says that 6.5 Million Votes voted Tactically [Held their Nose]
-SwapMyVote [Website] allowed for Precise Tactical Voting. They allow 2 Voters in Different Constituencies to make a Vote for one another's Preferred Party
-John Curtice [Election Expert] said that Tactical Voting affected 77 Constituencies during 2015 General Election |
| Why isn't Tactical Voting Important? | -2019 saw Lib Dems not willing to Vote for Labour compared to 2017 - Partially due to Different Brexit Stances, Corbyn and his Anti-Semitism and Boris getting 'Brexit Done'
-Sometimes it Fail to Persuade People to Tactically Vote. SNP won with a Majority despite Opposition Parties uniting with the same Candidate
-Parties rarely give Formal Advice for to Voters to Tactically Vote |
| What does Disillusion and Apathy Mean in terms of Election Time
-Which Age Group shows this Greatest? | -Characteristics that Force Levels of Turnout down. This can be due to Low Esteem for Political Class or no Interest in Politics and that Politics fails to Change things for the Greater Good
-It is usually the Youth that shows this more |
| How can 2015 and 2017 show the Importance of Turnout in Outcomes of Elections? | -2015 saw Higher Turnout from Disillusioned Conservatives who 'came back home' after Fears of a Coalition of Chaos with Labour and the SNP
-2017 saw the 'youthquake' as Turnout there Increased due to Corbyn's Leadership. This helped the Gap in Labour and the Conservatives which may be why Theresa May never got her Majority |
| How does the Closeness of an Election affect Turnout?
[2001] [2019] | -2001 saw Voters feel the Result of the 2001 General Election was Obvious - it would be Labour. So therefore Turnout was at 59%
-2019 was seen as a Closely Contested Election. Even though the Conservatives got a Nice Majority, its Margins of Victory was Small and only got 44% of the Popular Vote. This is why Turnout was at 67% |
| How does the Choice between the 2 Major Parties affect Turnout? | -2017 had Labour give a Different [Radical] Manifesto [Old Labour] from the Conservatives which may have Contributed to the 'Youthquake' [Higher Taxes, Nationalisation, Bye Bye Tuition Fees] |
| How does Salient Issues affect Turnout? | -Brexit made Voters from all sides Vote for Candidates and Parties that Stood for their Positions during 2017 General Election [69%]. 2019 also saw Similar Results |
| Why are Opinion Polls carried? | -They are used to find out Voting Intentions and what the Public is Thinking by using a Small Sample
-Assess Leader's Popularity and the Salience of Issues |
| What are the Debates about Opinion Polls? | -Whether the Usage of them affects how People Vote
-If they are even Accurate and Representative
-Role in shaping Party Policy |
| How can Opinion Polls be seen as Influential | -1992: Many Polls showed Labour to win the General Election, which may have swayed Undecided Voters to back the Conservatives to not all Neil Kinnock in Power
-2015 Closeness of Polls made the Conservatives warn of a SNP-Labour Coalition, leading to a Small Conservative Majority
-Polls showing Immigration was an Important issue after 2010 made Conservatives focus more on Limiting Immigration |
| How can Opinion Polls be seen as Useless | -2017: Predicted a Conservative Majority, which ignored the 'Youthquake' who then voted for Labour Candidates. This gave the Conservatives a Minority
-2016 EU: Polls said the Remain Side would Win. Lol
-Labour's Manifesto in 2017 had led to the Shift in Opinion of Public Spending [Not Opinion Polls shaping the Policy] |
| What has the French done with Opinion Polls? | -They are Banned on the Polling Day and the Day Before |
| What are the Arguments for Banning Opinion Polls? | -May affect how People Vote, so therefore it can Discourage People from Voting at all
-Proved to be Inaccurate, seen with the EU Referendum. Some may have voted Leave as a Protest expecting to Remain anyways'
-Politicians shouldn't be Chained to changing Public Opinions seen in Polls, which may be Wrong
-France and Canada have Banned the Use of Releasing Polls. Both nations share Political and Democratic Systems to Britain |
| What are the Arguments for not Banning Opinion Polls? | -Go Against the Freedom of Expression
-If they are Banned, then some Organisations can get it Privately via Payments so it can create actually Asymmetrical Information
-Polls has Valuable Information of People's Moods which helps Politicians respond to their Concerns
-Polls still be given out Abroad and see them on the Internet |
| Which Newspapers support the Conservatives, or the Labour Party? | -Daily Express, Daily Mail, The Sun, Daily Telegraph and The Times have Conservative Bias to some Extent
-The Guardian and the Daily Mirror shows Labour Bias |
| 1979
-How did the Press have Influence, but didn't? | -The Sun quoted 'Crisis, what crisis' at Height of Winter Discontent. This quote was said to be from Callaghan. This made him seem out of Touch and Opinion swung very Aggressively away
-1979 Result is best Explained through Labour's Inability to handle the Industries and Strikes and Trade Unions |
| 1997
-How did the Press have Influence, but didn't? | -The Sun supported Labour here. Blair, with media mogul Rupert Murdoch, took a Pro-Europe and Pro-Business to win his Newspapers [Owned the Sun, the Times, Sunday times..]
-The Press however may have just reacted how the Public did which the Polls shown as Swinging to Labour |
| 2017
-How did the Press have Influence, but didn't? | -YouGov stated that 74% of Daily Mail voted the Conservatives, which showed the Daily Mail's Bias towards the Party [But 41% of Voters who read the Sun didn't vote Tory in 2017]
-Press barrage to Corbyn didn't allow the Conservatives to get the Majority it needed. The Sun 'Don't chuck Britain in the Corbin' & Daily Mail '15-page-anti-Labour' before Polling day, Labour has its Largest Increase in Vote Share since 1945 |
| Name some Examples where the Press had Influenced Party Policy | -Blair, First Term, almost held a Referendum on whether to join the Euro, but the Murdoch Press was Hostile to that Plan
-Daily Mail Campaign for Justice for the British-Jamaican Teenager Stephen Lawrence in early 1990s made Government accept an Inquiry that the Met Police was Institutionally Racist |
| Name examples where the Press didn't actually have Influence on Party Policy | -Leaders of the Parties have the Most Influence. Corbyn had Labour adopt Policies which Infuriated the Murdoch Press like Nationalising the Rail and Utility Companies
-Parties are very Complex and makes Polices through many Views via many Groups, Insider and Outsider, Think tanks or PGs. Conservatives wanting Universal Credit were Influenced by the Centre of Social Justice - Think Tank which had Ian Duncan Smith as Head [Former Work and Pensions Secretary] |
| What does Televisual Image mean in terms of Elections? | -How Leaders come across to Voters on TV
-Really its how Confident they are, and how well they do in Debates |
| Why do Leaders need a Positive Televisual Image? | -Neil Kinnock's at the Sheffield Rally may have put Doubt in Voter's Mind as he seemed to be out of touch
-2010 Debate between the 3 Main Parties could be why Conservatives didn't get a Majority. Nick Clegg performed Strongly and the 'Cleggmania' gave Cameroon a Hung Parliment
-2015 saw Ed Miliband fall off a Stage in front of a Live TV Audience which made him as a not Strong Leader [He seemed Cringe]
-May didn't want to be in a Live TV debate led to her Leadership being attacked. Green Leader Caroline Lucas MP said that 'first rule of Leadership is that you turn up' |
| Why don't Leaders need a Positive Televisual Image? | -Sheffield Rally happened a Week Before the 1992 Election, so its hard to say that this was why there was Different Levels of Support between the Polls and the Results of the Election
-Lib Dems increased their Vote Share by 1% in 2010 and lost Seats compared to 2005 [Increased vote share however] so the Debate did little
-Miliband did quite well when Interviewed by Jeremy Paxman in 2015 Election. Still lost.
-Johnson vs Corbyn Debates in 2019 was seen as Dull and Repetitive with no Obvious Winner |
| How can Social Media be said to be Influential? | -Labour during 2017 targeted Young Facebook Users at Minimal Cost. This showed how Labour had Dodged the Traditional Media
-UKIP in 2015 reached to Facebook users and spent a lot of Money on Social Media Campaigns. This allows it to get 3.8 Million Votes
-Winter General Election of 2019 showed Social Media to play more Important Role than the Traditional Canvassing [Direct Contact with Voters] due to the Harsh Weather |
| How can Social Media be not Influential? | -Quite a few False Dawns. 'Webcameron' YT Channel in 2010 was just a Publicity Stunt [Given more Credit than it Deserves] [Although this did allow the Conservatives to make Cameron to seem like a Fresh, Dynamic Leader]
-Conservatives had Halved their Spending on Facebook during 2019
-Social Media seems to be unable to win over New Voters. Instead it just reinforces People's Views. So it acts as an Echo Chamber |
