"Social class is not the only factor in voting behaviour but it remains the most significant."

Embourgeoisement was a term coined to explain why some of the working class where voting for the Conservative party, this was down to the fact that their living standards where improving and they began to own their own houses, as opposed the working class renting their homes. So some of the working class thought of them selves as middle class, because of their home ownership.

Another factor explaining voting behavioural changes, is partisanship. This is the decline of loyal party followers, over the years the figures have decreased as more people are varying who they vote for, rather than being a loyal party follower for example "True Blue" is often used to describe some one who always votes for Conservatives.

Political parties used to be able to depend on these loyal voters. The partisanship for the conservatives fell from 81% of in 1964 to 70% in 1983. And for Labour having 67% of the working class voters, fell to 38% in 1983. So partisanship did play a very significant role in the elections, however it has declined as there are less people who are loyal to one distinct party.

I think that one of the most important factors that effect voting today is issue voting. This is because, less voters are not effected, or are weakly effected, by traditional class or party identification. Instead they make a rational choice on parties policies, on whether they feel that the policies are salient to them. In 1997 and 2001 the NHS was the most salient issue, 87% of voters decided to vote according to that one factor. This figure shows how important issue voting can be.

To conclude , Social class is not the only factor effecting the voting, however it is hard to say whether it is the most relevant or not, some political scientist would argue that it still remains the most significant and others would disagree. I myself feel that there are too many factors effecting voting behaviour to declare one the significant, but the strongest factor appears to be Issue voting. Because it appears to hold the strongest bearing on elections, more people have an open mind and therefore can make there own decisions, and don't think in the way of "they represent my social class, therefore they must have policies which effect me". Social class undoubtedly still plays a role in modern elections, however its significance has some what dwindled.