Official and Reported Turnout in the British General Election of 1987

1989 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Swaddle ◽  
Anthony Heath
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
General Election ◽  
Election Study ◽  
Electoral Register ◽  
Official Rate ◽  
General Elections ◽  
Electoral Behaviour ◽  
Using Data

This Note looks afresh at the question of turnout in British general elections, using data gathered in the 1987 British General Election Study, together with information on the electoral behaviour of the sample, collected independently of the BGES survey. The official rate of turnout for Great Britain in 1987 (the number of votes cast over the number of entries on the electoral register) was around 75 per cent; that is to say, according to official figures, about one in four registered electors did not vote. In common with earlier surveys, the BGES indicates a much higher turnout figure than the official one; 86 per cent of respondents to the survey reported that they had voted.

Expectations and Preferences in British General Elections

1994 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
pp. 371-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Nadeau ◽  
Richard G. Niemi ◽  
Timothy Amato
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Formation Process ◽  
General Election ◽  
Bandwagon Effect ◽  
Expectations Formation ◽  
Before And After ◽  
General Elections ◽  
Rapid Adjustment ◽  
Economic Expectations ◽  
Using Data

We address two questions: How do people form their expectations about the likely winner of the next general election? and What are the links between expectations and votes? Using data collected by the Gallup organization in Great Britain, we find that the expectations formation process (1) has a significant inertia component but also a rapid adjustment to current information; (2) reflects voters' ability to translate economic expectations into political forecasts; and (3) is “time-bounded,” possessing special characteristics immediately before and after a general election. The analysis also confirms the existence of a small bandwagon effect, whereby expectations that one party will win inflate that party's vote. The ability of voters to make reasonable forecasts without being unduly influenced by their own preferences suggests that under normal circumstances voters are expressing real preferences and not simply following the crowd.

No Republican, No Vote: Undervoting and Consequences of the Top-Two Primary System

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 292-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin A. Fisk
Keyword(s):  
General Election ◽  
Primary System ◽  
Congressional Election ◽  
Party Affiliation ◽  
Election Study ◽  
Opting Out ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Senate Election ◽  
Using Data ◽  
New System

Washington and California adopted the Top-Two Primary in 2008 and 2012, respectively. Under this new system, all candidates regardless of party affiliation run against each other, narrowing the field down to the top two for the general election. In some jurisdictions, the general election features two candidates from the same party. Ten percent of California voters chose not to vote in the 2016 U.S. Senate election which featured two Democrats. Using data from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study (2012–2016), I find that among those who vote in the national November elections, orphans, or voters without a copartisan candidate on the ballot are more likely to undervote, opting out of voting in their congressional race. Levels of undervoting are nearly 20 percentage points higher for orphaned voters compared to non-orphaned voters. Additionally, voters who abstain perceive more ideological distance between themselves and the candidates compared to voters who cast a vote. These findings support a multi-step framework for vote decisions in same-party matchups: voters are more likely to undervote if they are unable to vote for a candidate from their party (partisan model), but all voters are more likely to vote for a candidate when they perceive ideological proximity (ideological model).

Civic Literacy and Falling Electoral Turnout: The United Kingdom 1992-1997

2003 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 579-599 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Pattie ◽  
R. J. Johnston
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
General Population ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Election Study ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
General Elections ◽  
Electoral Turnout ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Civic Literacy ◽  
Cross National

Aggregate cross-national analyses of political participation have reported correlations between civic literacy, political knowledge and election turnout. Enhancing civic literacy among Canadian voters, in part by encouraging greater newspaper readership in the general population, has been put forward as a strategy for combating falling turnout in national general elections. The idea is evaluated comparatively at the level of individual voters, using data from the British Election Study. Newspaper readership is related to political knowledge, but increased newspaper reading does not translate into a greater propensity to vote.

The machinery of the Irish parliamentary party in the general election of 1895

1952 ◽  
Vol 8 (30) ◽  
pp. 115-139
Author(s):  
F.S.L. Lyons
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Major Change ◽  
Relative Strength ◽  
General Election ◽  
Home Rule ◽  
The Past ◽  
Long Time ◽  
General Elections ◽  
History Of ◽  
Practical Politics

Each of the general elections that took place between 1885 and 1910 was significant in the history of the party, but that of 1895 had an interest peculiar to itself, setting it apart from the others in the series. It was not an election which brought about any major change in the relative strength of the various parties; it was not even notable for the number of seats to be contested. Nor was it fought upon any major issue of policy, since it was obvious to all but the most optimistic that home rule was not—and for a long time was not likely to be—a matter of practical politics; even the question of whether or not to continue the liberal alliance—a question hotly debated ever since Lord Rosebery's unpromising reference to home rule in March 1894—seemed largely academic in view of the probability of a unionist victory in Great Britain. For the Irish party—or, to speak more precisely, for the anti-Parnellites—the importance of the election of 1895 lay in quite a different direction; it lay in the fact that as a result of this campaign the methods whereby in the past the party had controlled the conduct of the elections over a large part of Ireland were deeply and permanently discredited, and the party itself confronted with a very serious crisis. It is the purpose of this paper to trace the development of that crisis, but before proceeding to consider it in detail, it will be necessary to describe very briefly the way in which this control over the elections was exercised.

scholarly journals Who Votes by Post? Understanding the Drivers of Postal Voting in the 2019 British General Election

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Townsley ◽  
Stuart J Turnbull-Dugarte ◽  
Siim Trumm ◽  
Caitlin Milazzo
Keyword(s):  
Electoral Politics ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
General Election ◽  
Election Study ◽  
Public Setting ◽  
Using Data

Abstract While most voters in democratic countries still cast their ballot on election day, the proportion of the electorate which opts for postal voting has been steadily, and often dramatically, increasing. This transformation in electoral politics, however, is under-researched, particularly with regards to the motivations underlying the decision to cast a postal vote. In this article, we analyse the factors that drive an individual to vote by post rather than at the polling station. Using data from the 2019 British Election Study, we show, among other findings, that citizens for whom in-person voting would entail higher costs, such as the elderly and disabled, are more likely to opt for the convenience of postal voting. In addition, we find that partisans are unlikely to vote by post, suggesting that they derive greater expressive benefits from voting in a public setting. Finally, our analysis demonstrates that constituency marginality matters when it comes to opting for postal voting: citizens in more competitive constituencies are significantly more likely to ensure their votes by casting their ballots by post rather than on election day.

The Big Red Machine: How the Liberal Party Dominates Canadian Politics

2006 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 971-972
Author(s):  
Steve Patten
Keyword(s):  
Electoral Politics ◽  
The Political ◽  
Partisan Politics ◽  
Liberal Party ◽  
University Of British Columbia ◽  
Pierre Elliott Trudeau ◽  
Canadian Politics ◽  
General Elections ◽  
Electoral Behaviour ◽  
Party Dominance

The Big Red Machine: How the Liberal Party Dominates Canadian Politics, Stephen Clarkson, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005, pp. xii, 335.Stephen Clarkson's The Big Red Machine offers an insightful chronicle of the Liberal Party of Canada's electoral behaviour over a period of thirty years. By bringing together revised versions of his previously published accounts of the Liberal Party's successes and failures in the nine general elections held between 1974 and 2004, Clarkson provides a unique opportunity for serious reflection on Liberal Party dominance of twentieth-century Canadian politics. Beyond that, however, his accessible and compelling presentation of the story of Liberal electoral politics offers a nostalgic review of the events and personalities that shaped the political journey from Pierre Elliott Trudeau to Paul Martin. In accomplishing this, Clarkson has produced a book that will be of as much interest to non-academic followers of Canadian politics as it is to serious students of partisan politics.

A Dividing Nation? An Initial Exploration of the Changing Electoral Geography of Great Britain, 1979–1987

1987 ◽  
Vol 19 (8) ◽  
pp. 1001-1013 ◽  
Author(s):  
R J Johnston ◽  
C J Pattie
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Voting Behaviour ◽  
Electoral Geography ◽  
Occupational Class ◽  
General Elections ◽  
Initial Exploration

Commentators have suggested an increased spatial polarisation in voting behaviour within Great Britain over recent decades. Analyses designed to evaluate this suggestion for the period 1979–87 are reported. Entropy-maximising procedures were used to produce estimates of voting by occupational class at the 1979, 1983, and 1987 general elections; they show very clear patterns of increased polarisation over the period.

Position of Nepali Congress in the Electoral Politics of Nepal

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 32-42
Author(s):  
Amrit Kumar Shrestha
Keyword(s):  
Political Party ◽  
Electoral Politics ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
General Election ◽  
The Status ◽  
General Elections ◽  
Election Commission

Nepali Congress (NC) is one of the oldest political party of Nepal. It played a vital role to abolish the century long autocratic Rana rule in 1951. It fought against the party-less Panchayat system and the regressive step of the king. It opposes active kingship and communism. It believes in a representative democracy. It has participated in every election of Nepal that was conducted democratically. It won more than two-thirds majority seats in the first general election held in 1959. In every election, it stayed in the first or second position. This article tries to analyze the status of NC in the elections of Nepal. Data of seven general elections were examined in this article. Data were extracted basically from the reports of the Election Commission.

Did They Mind the Gap? Voter/Party Ideological Proximity between the BQ, the NDP and Quebec Voters, 2006–2011

2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Philippe Gauvin ◽  
Chris Chhim ◽  
Mike Medeiros
Keyword(s):  
Political Party ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Election Study ◽  
Federal Election ◽  
Party Manifestos ◽  
Longitudinal Approach ◽  
The Face ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Over Time

AbstractThe 2011 Canadian federal election results changed the face of federal politics in Quebec. In a sudden and spectacular reversal of electoral fortunes, BQ support crumbled while that of the NDP surged. While most commentators focused exclusively on the 2011 election itself to explain what had happened, we offer an interpretation that takes a longitudinal approach. Using data from the Canadian Election Study and political party manifestos from 2006 to 2011, we propose a three-dimensional proximity model of voter/party congruence to explore the evolution of the ideological stances of Quebec voters and parties. Empirical results suggest these ideological distances between the NDP and Quebec voters decreased over time, whereas the BQ has distanced itself from voters. Furthermore, ideological distances between party and voters are a significant predictor of vote.

scholarly journals Oh Jeremy Corbyn! Why did Labour Party membership soar after the 2015 general election?

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Whiteley ◽  
Monica Poletti ◽  
Paul Webb ◽  
Tim Bale
Keyword(s):  
Relative Deprivation ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
General Election ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Election Study ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Project Data ◽  
First Time ◽  
Jeremy Corbyn

This article investigates the remarkable surge in individual membership of the Labour Party after the general election of May 2015, particularly after Jeremy Corbyn was officially nominated as a candidate for the leadership in June of that year. Using both British Election Study and Party Members Project data, we explain the surge by focussing on the attitudinal, ideological and demographic characteristics of the members themselves. Findings suggest that, along with support for the leader and yearning for a new style of politics, feelings of relative deprivation played a significant part: many ‘left-behind’ voters (some well-educated, some less so) joined Labour for the first time when a candidate with a clearly radical profile appeared on the leadership ballot. Anti-capitalist and left-wing values mattered too, particularly for those former members who decided to return to the party.

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