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2. The Issues and the Party Leader

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About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we think about voting behaviour in terms of the issues that are important to voters and the figure of the party leader, focusing in particular on: (i) the concept of valence politics, i.e. where voters agree on the aims of government, but disagree on which party will be most competent in achieving those aims; (ii) the tendency in recent times for voters to disagree on what the aims of government should be; and (iii) the importance of the figure of the leader in influencing how people vote, both positively (attracting voters) and negatively (repelling them).

Course

In this course, Professor Peter Dorey (Cardiff University) explores various aspects of voting behaviour. In the first module, we think about voting behaviour in terms of class and partisan alignment and dealignment. After that, in the second module, we think about the importance of individual political issues (e.g. Brexit) and of the figure of the party leader him or herself influencing how people vote. In the third module, we think about the importance of the election campaign itself, before turning in the fourth module to consider the extent to which voting behaviour can be explained by age and gender. In the fifth module, we consider the extent to which the media can be said to influence voting behaviour, before turning in the sixth and final module to think about the issue of electoral turnout, how it has changed over the past fifty years, and some of the reasons for this change.

Lecturer

Prof. Peter Dorey is Professor of British Politics at Cardiff University. His research interests focus on several aspects of British Politics, and public policy, in the period from 1945 to the present day. To date, he has written, co-authored or edited fifteen books on aspects of British politics or public policy, including Comrades in Conflict: Labour, the Trade Unions and 1969's 'In Place of Strife' (2019) and (as co-editor) Choosing Party Leaders: Britain's Conservatives and Labour Compares (2020).