Is Party Identification still the main determinant in Electoral Choice?

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Is Party Identification still the main determinant in

Electoral Choice?

Introduction

For the first half of the post-war period it has been relatively easy to find an explanation for

individuals' decisions when it comes to voting for a political party. Also to distinguish the

different social groups and classes that are separated over votes and party following. Mostly

differentiated with occupation, labels of middle, skilled or unskilled working class became the

general criteria of character and political belief to divide votes up. The majority of the working

class would vote for Labour and the middle class would vote for Conservative, and this party

loyalty up till the 1980's, had been growing stronger and became more in-built, where

identifiers with a party would be more likely to agree with their party's policies, with less

emphasis on the actual policies themselves. However, votes of strong identifiers and the

"safe" working class began to fall as the proportion of workers in the manufacturing industry

fell, and as more service and white-collar occupations grew. At this time the "rational choice"

model of voting began to be the more influential factor to take the place of strong "party

identification".

Model Characters

Party Identification

The concept of party identification represents the long-term feelings of attachment of the

voter to a particular political party, though identifiers do not have to actively vote for their

party to feel formally a member, the human instinct to need to be associated with a group to

promote self-image is enough to create an indefinite and almost religious following of any one

party. With identifiers voting is seen more as expressive, not purposeful and instrumental-

"party voting", as opposed to "policy voting".

Party voting can come from many different mediums, initially inherited through the

family and strengthened over time, partisanship is a method of making sense of the

overwhelming barrage of political information which voters are expected to deal with. The

influence of family and social circles creates the party identification and the voter from this

point then forms his/her policy beliefs around the party's ideas, and then on to the vote itself.

Rational Choice

The theory of the "rational choice" voting model is based on the voter recognising his/her own

self-interest, and the voter evaluating the possible parties on the basis of which one will best

serve this self-interest, and vote accordingly. From this it could be said that rational voters are

more politically minded, and would be seen to understand more about policies and

governmental effects, since votes cast are based entirely upon the economic and social

repercussions of any certain party's actions. Also voters of this kind are not affected at all by

their peers beliefs, votes are not cast to "stay in" a group whether it be family, friends or co-

workers, their motives are purely political. The chances of the rational voters party winning is

also a concern, since they are hoping to reap the benefits of the party's implementation of

their policies.

The Comparison

The two voting models are fundamentally different in the way that identifiers' votes have little
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to do with politics, if at all, whereas rational voters vote with political interest in mind. Though

both types vote through self-interest it could be said that the character of the voter is the

deciding factor in relation to the two systems. The rational approach requires thought and

some general research, since facts and policies are the basis of decision, identification on the

other hand lacks any mature procedure or thought and shows a childish haste.

In a multi-party system, the attitude towards parties may not always be a ...

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