Voting Behaviour and the Media

What Voting Behaviour and the Media covers

Covers why people vote the way they do, worked through the general elections of 1979, 1997 and 2010: the results themselves, the policies and campaigns that shaped them, the social factors behind party support, and the influence of the press and broadcasters.

The 5 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• The 1979, 1997 and 2010 general election resultsRecall questions on the seat and vote shares in each of the three case study elections and what each result meant for the winning and losing parties.Open →
• Why elections are won and lostRecall questions on the part played by policy, manifestos, campaign strategy, the economy and a government's record in deciding an election.Open →
• Class, partisanship and social factorsRecall questions on class voting and partisanship, how gender, age, ethnicity and region shape the vote, and how those patterns have shifted.Open →
• Analysing voting behaviour dataRecall questions on opinion polls, election results data and the British Election Study, class and partisan dealignment, class-based against issue voting, and long-term against short-term factors.Open →
• The influence of the mediaRecall questions on when the media shapes outcomes, opinion polls and the bandwagon effect and tactical voting they can cause, judging a poll’s relevance, media bias and persuasion, whether the media reflects or shapes opinion, and agenda-setting.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Voting Behaviour and the Media further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Partisan dealignment vs Class dealignment

  Partisan dealignment: weakening attachment to a particular party. Class dealignment: weakening connection between social class and voting.

• Opinion poll vs Exit poll

  Opinion poll: survey estimating current public preferences. Exit poll: survey of voters immediately after voting.

• Traditional media vs Social media

  Traditional media: print and broadcast organisations with editorial control. Social media: online platforms driven by user-created content.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   In the 1979 general election, what was the outcome in terms of seats and vote share for the main parties?

   Model answer

   The Conservatives won 339 seats (43.9% vote share), Labour won 269 seats (36.9%), and the Liberals won 11 seats (13.8%). The Conservatives gained an overall majority of 43 seats.

2. 2

   How did the 1979 election result impact the winning Conservative Party?

   Model answer

   It brought Margaret Thatcher to power as Britain's first female Prime Minister, began 18 years of Conservative government, and enabled the party to implement radical free-market economic policies and reshape British politics.

3. 3

   What was the impact of the 1979 election defeat on the Labour Party?

   Model answer

   Labour entered a period of internal division between left and right factions, leading to the breakaway of the SDP in 1981, and the party remained out of power until 1997.

4. 4

   How did the 1979 election result affect government formation?

   Model answer

   It ended the Labour government of James Callaghan and produced a single-party Conservative majority government under Margaret Thatcher, ending the instability of minority government.

5. 5

   What was the scale of Labour's victory in the 1997 general election?

   Model answer

   Labour won 418 seats with 43.2% of the vote, achieving a landslide majority of 179 seats—the largest in the party's history.

6. 6

   How badly were the Conservatives defeated in 1997?

   Model answer

   The Conservatives won only 165 seats (30.7% vote share), their worst result since 1906, losing over half their MPs including several Cabinet ministers.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Voting Behaviour and the Media revision questions

What does Voting Behaviour and the Media cover in Edexcel A-Level Politics?

5 subtopics: the 1979, 1997 and 2010 general election results, why elections are won and lost, class, partisanship and social factors, analysing voting behaviour data and the influence of the media. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Voting Behaviour and the Media organised?

By the Edexcel 9PL0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.