voting essay

Question 1

first peel - age

Answer 1

• clear gap between what old and young people vote for
• young people vote labour bc of equality and free edu
• older people vote conservative for low taxation and hard justice
• example is in 2019 56% of under 40s supported labour whilst only 20% supported conservative

Question 2

REEL - Age

Answer 2

• young people are less likely to vote than older people therefore labour didn’t have enough supporters to win
• For example, 54% of 18–24-year-olds voted in 2017 whilst 71% of those aged 77 and over voted.
• the argument that because young people aren’t as likely to vote then we don’t actually know if they are more likely to vote labour
• Overall, age is the most influential factor as in comparison to older people, young people don’t vote as much but over half turn up meaning that there is a good amount who do.
• young people may not vote as a statement of anger towards the government which shows the impact of age on voting behaviour.

Question 3

PEEL - social class

Answer 3

• people in the same social class will share similar socioeconomical traits which makes them more likely to vote a specific way.
• Individuals who are in class A and B and maybe C1 are likely to vote conservative as they support more freedom for big businesses and lower taxation
• On the other hand, those who are in lower social classes such as C2, D and E will lean more towards labour as they aim for social equality and free education.
• example: in 2015 the conservatives got 43% of votes from those in ABC1 while 41% from the DE classes went to labour.

Question 4

REEL - social class

Answer 4

• social class has become less influential over time.
• This is because of changes to work in the UK where most people are classed as middle class.
• This has caused a change in how people vote and now support for parties are more widespread than in the past.
• This is supported by evidence from the recent elections where between 40-45% of ABC1 supported the Conservatives as did around 40% - 45% of C2DE.
• This shows that people are more likely to vote conservative no matter their social class.

Question 5

PEEL - media

Answer 5

• Young people tend to get their information from social media whilst older people tend to get their information from more traditional forms of media such as newspapers.
• it is a fact that newspapers are allowed to be biased as long as the facts are correct, and most newspapers have a political stance.
• For example, the Daily Mail showed themselves to be pro-conservative in 2017 whilst the labour party was favoured by the Daily Mirror.
• This shows that newspapers have an influence on people as the conservatives won in 2017 as the Daily Mail as well as many other newspapers favoured them

Question 6

REEL -Media

Answer 6

• the majority of people tend to buy newspapers which agree with their political point of view.
• An example of this is The Sun, one of the most well-known newspapers in the UK supports the SNP in Scotland while supporting Conservatives in England
• This shows that the sun acknowledges the fact that people are most likely to buy papers that support their political stance as they are changing their political bias to attract readers in different parts of the UK.
• Overall, although media does have a big influence on how a person votes, age is still a bigger factor as age can affect what type of media a person gets their information from since younger people are more likely to get their information from social media while older people tend to get their information from newspapers and other traditional media.

Question 7

PEEL - education

Answer 7

• . A person’s level of education can indicate how someone votes.
• recent years, the number of people with an university degree is increasing and therefore people are becoming educated.
• People with university qualifications are more likely to vote labour which supports free education and equality while people without a good level of education tend to vote for conservative

Question 8

REEL - Education

Answer 8

• In a whole, there isn’t much of an impact of education on what people choose to vote
• For example, 42% of people have a university degree nowadays.
• This effects voting behaviour as those who have a university degree will know what it is like to suffer with loans and college tuition amongst other things therefore they will more likely vote labour as they aim to make education free.
• This shows that although education is an important factor, it is a factor which revolves around age as most young people nowadays are educated whilst the elderly are less likely to be
• As well as this, just because someone doesn’t have a qualification doesn’t mean that they aren’t politically aware or that they are going to vote a specific way.

Question 9

summary

Answer 9

In summary, media and social class can be influential on voting behaviour as it might give people the facts or experience they need to make but their mind. Arguably though age is the most influential factor of the three to a large extent and its influence appears to be increasing over time as well as the fact that a lot of these factors are influenced by age as well.