Class, Attitudes, and Retrospective Voting: Exploring the Regional Variations in the 1983 General Election in Great Britain

The years 1885–6 were years of political confusion in Great Britain and Ireland. No less than four governments were in office from the spring of 1885 to the summer of 1886. Gladstone's government, beset by ministerial quarrels, fell on 9 June 1885, and was succeeded by the caretaker government of Lord Salisbury. The general election of December prolonged this political instability. The liberals were returned but with a majority of only two over the other parties. Salisbury remained in power until 27 January 1886 when he was defeated in the house. Gladstone, already a convert to some form of home rule for Ireland, formed a cabinet and drew up two bills, the Government of Ireland Bill and the Land Purchase (Ireland) Bill. The former was introduced on 8 April and exactly two months later was defeated owing to the desertion of ninety-three liberal members. In the subsequent general election the conservatives and liberal unionists routed the Gladstonian forces.

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How protest voters choose

Party Politics ◽

10.1177/1354068817698857 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 25 (2) ◽

pp. 110-125 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Sarah Birch ◽

James Dennison

Keyword(s):

Great Britain ◽

General Election ◽

Political Elites ◽

Complex Phenomenon ◽

Campaign Effects ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Knee Jerk ◽

Parliamentary Democracies ◽

Protest Voters

Political scientists have identified protest voting – voting for an anti-establishment party as a protest against mainstream politics – as a consequence of dissatisfaction with traditional political options. Yet we know little about what motivates people to cast a protest vote or why voters select one such protest option over another. Taking as its empirical referent the 2015 General Election in Great Britain, this article assesses the ‘protest choice’ in parliamentary democracies. We test three possible theoretical explanations for protest voting: ideology, mistrust of political elites and campaign effects. We find that the most important factors affecting protest choice are issue positions and campaign effects. The findings suggest that protest voting is a complex phenomenon that cannot be reduced to knee-jerk anti-politics reactions.

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Is the Seesaw Tipping Back? The End of Thatcherism and Changing Voting Patterns in Great Britain 1979–92

Environment and Planning A Economy and Space ◽

10.1068/a241491 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 24 (10) ◽

pp. 1491-1505 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

R J Johnston ◽

C J Pattie

Keyword(s):

Great Britain ◽

General Election ◽

The Political ◽

Voting Behaviour ◽

Electoral Geography ◽

Economic Success ◽

Spatially Varying ◽

New Geography

Accounts of British voting behaviour in the 1980s stressed the development of growing spatial divides within the country, especially a north-south divide which reflected economic success in the increasingly Conservative-dominated south and depression in the Labour-supporting north. A new geography of recession was emerging in the early 1990s, however, and the first general election since (in April 1992) suggests that the period of divergence has ended, to be replaced by convergence in the electoral geography of Britain though at spatially varying rates and at a pace insufficient to close the political divides entirely and lead to the government's demise.

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Greece's Experiment with Proportional Representation

American Political Science Review ◽

10.2307/1945544 ◽

1927 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

pp. 123-127 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Adamantios Th. Polyzoides

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Public Opinion ◽

Great Britain ◽

Party System ◽

The United States ◽

Proportional Representation ◽

General Election ◽

The Other ◽

The Press ◽

The Military

On November 7 Greece held its first general election under the system of proportional representation, using a modified form of the Belgian system. This innovation was imposed on the country despite the most strenuous opposition by all of the old parties, the majority of the press, and the bulk of public opinion, and its adoption was a clear victory of the minority parties, assisted by the Military League and the then dictator General Kondylis.The arguments of the established parties in favor of the old plurality system ran on lines too familiar to require extensive statement here. The former system, according to its supporters, usually assures the election of large majorities, one way or the other, and enables Parliament to give the country what we call a strong government, such as Greece needed at the time of the election. Great Britain and the United States were offered as the outstanding examples of the efficiency of the two-party system, which is best served by the old-fashioned electoral method of absolute plurality. Naturally enough, Belgium was cited as the worst exponent of the evils of proportional representation.

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Expectations and Preferences in British General Elections

American Political Science Review ◽

10.2307/2944710 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 88 (2) ◽

pp. 371-383 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

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.

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Presidential Succession Effects in Voting

British Journal of Political Science ◽

10.1017/s0007123400006979 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 24 (4) ◽

pp. 495-516 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Franco Mattei ◽

Herbert F. Weisberg

Keyword(s):

Presidential Election ◽

Reagan Administration ◽

Presidential Elections ◽

Party Identification ◽

Vice President ◽

General Election ◽

Retrospective Voting ◽

Indirect Impact ◽

Presidential Succession ◽

President Bush

Attitudes towards a departing administration can help shape attitudes towards candidates, especially when the incumbent vice-president is one of the candidates. This succession effect was apparent in the 1988 presidential election, when Vice-President Bush benefited from the enduring popularity of retiring President Reagan. This article develops a model in which succession effects, the net candidate score and party identification affect the general election vote. Analysis shows that this effect remains when controls are instituted for retrospective voting more generally. Attitudes towards Reagan also had an indirect impact by affecting the net Bush-Dukakis candidate score; altogether the estimated impact of the Reagan effect in 1988 was to turn the vice-president's predicted loss into his observed victory. Additionally, a succession effect was detected in the 1988 nominating campaign, with Bush's popularity over Dole benefiting from reactions to the Reagan administration. There is evidence of succession effects in other presidential elections, particularly a Johnson effect in 1968.

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Simulatie van een meerderheidsstelsel in België

Res Publica ◽

10.21825/rp.v19i3.19470 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 19 (3) ◽

pp. 529-541

Author(s):

Luc Holvoet

Keyword(s):

Great Britain ◽

Political System ◽

General Election ◽

Negative Consequences ◽

Representation System

Based upon the electoral results from the 17/4/1977 general election this study examines how the introduction of a system of single majoritarian representation (as in Great-Britain) might «reshuffle the cards» among the various politica! parties.Furthermore, one has examined which might be the consequences of the introduction of majoritarian representation for the over-all functioning of the Belgian political system. One bas also explored the possibilities to counterbalance the possible negative consequences of such a representation system.

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Introduction

The Referendum in Britain ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198823612.003.0001 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-18

Author(s):

Lucy Atkinson ◽

Andrew Blick ◽

Matt Qvortrup

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

United Kingdom ◽

Great Britain ◽

Northern Ireland ◽

General Election ◽

The European Union ◽

Popular Vote ◽

The Public ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Political Turmoil

This book was conceived of and written during a protracted episode of political turmoil. The period of disruption in question was triggered by the use of a democratic device; one which asks members of the public to choose between options with respect to a given decision. It is known as a referendum. This particular popular vote was held on 23 June 2016 across Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and Gibraltar. The ballot paper read: ‘[s]hould the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?’ Of those who could have voted (rounded to two decimal places), 72.15 per cent took part and cast valid votes (that is, 33,551,983 of a total of 46,501,241), a higher proportion than at any General Election since 1992 (77.71)....

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