The Factors Affecting British Voting Turnout

The Factors Affecting British Voting Turnout

Turnout is declining, in 2001 the turnout was 75% yet in 2005, a mere

4 years later, the turnout had decreased to %9.4% a huge drop. This

could be due to many reasons; one of these reasons could be the rise

of apathy in politics in the UK. Voters may be satisfied by the

government & the economy & may think that the existing government

shall win the election yet again so may not come out to vote, it could

also be the other way around, voters may think that the government is

so appalling that its defeat is inevitable & voters foresee a new

government coming into power.

The turnout may be declining because voters have looked at the parties

& their policies & think that two parties views are very similar &

that they cannot decide which party to vote for. Voters may have

looked at the parties & policies & realised that none of the parties

have policies or issues that they are relate to, For Example: the

Conservatives main policy may be about Pensions, & if an 18 year old

student looks at their policies & decides that the policies have

nothing to do with them & may not vote, either for the Conservatives

or not at all. The electoral system is also old fashioned & voters may

not understand how you have to register or vote. Other people may not

vote due to class dealignment. Class dealignment can be explained by

the reduced intensity of class consciousness in this period, caused by

a number of factors such as the decline of the number of manual

workers & the rise of in the service sector of employment. Class

dealignment is perceived as having a particularly damaging effect on

the electoral prospects of the Labour party, which failed to win a

general election between the years of 1979 & 1997.

It may decrease because of class dealignment because there is no

longer a specific way of telling what class you belong to therefore

voters using the primacy model may not feel they are no longer a part