Low Electoral Turnout

Created by: sophiellen
Created on: 14-04-17 17:47


	Low Electoral Turnout
	Causes Apathy, indifference towards political institutions, disengagement and disillusionment with the government; for example the POWER report published in 2006 found that voters thought elections made little difference 'Hapathy', people abstain from voting as they are happy with the current state of affairs 'Second order' elections, such as EU elections, local elections, have lower turnout; English local elections in 2016 had a turnout of 33.8% Electoral systems, turnout could be higher if a proportional system were used so each vote was equal Relative value of a vote; safe seats vs marginal seats Mass media, intense coverage can increase turnout	Effects Weakens the government's mandate and legitimacy; for example Labour in 2005 won with support of only 35.2% of the 61.4% turnout, 21.6% of the overall electorate Ethnicity, Caucasian more likely to vote; 68% white, 56% BME Age, young people less likely to vote; 43% of age 18-24 vs 78% of aged 65+ Social class, upper classes more likely to vote; 73% AB, 57% DE Differential turnout; difference between constituency turnout is masked, for example in 2015, Dunbarton East had a turnout of 81.9% but Manchester Central had a turnout of 44.3% Increase in non-electoral participation, such as pressure groups and consumer campaigns
	Overall summary Overall, though turnout has started to increase since 2001 where it reached an all time low of 59.4%, to 2015 when turnout was 66.1%, turnout is still significantly lower than pre-1997 where averages were around 77%.It could be argued that this is due to an increase in political apathy as voters feel the main political parties have converging ideologies and their votes make little difference to the overall state of affairs.Lower classes may feel disillusioned with the 'political class' and many people may have little trust in the government and politicians.For example, a 2013 survey showed that 9% of voters trusted politicians vs 6% of non-voters.

Low Electoral Turnout

Causes

Apathy, indifference towards political institutions, disengagement and disillusionment with the government; for example the POWER report published in 2006 found that voters thought elections made little difference
'Hapathy', people abstain from voting as they are happy with the current state of affairs
'Second order' elections, such as EU elections, local elections, have lower turnout; English local elections in 2016 had a turnout of 33.8%
Electoral systems, turnout could be higher if a proportional system were used so each vote was equal
Relative value of a vote; safe seats vs marginal seats
Mass media, intense coverage can increase turnout

Effects

Weakens the government's mandate and legitimacy; for example Labour in 2005 won with support of only 35.2% of the 61.4% turnout, 21.6% of the overall electorate
Ethnicity, Caucasian more likely to vote; 68% white, 56% BME
Age, young people less likely to vote; 43% of age 18-24 vs 78% of aged 65+
Social class, upper classes more likely to vote; 73% AB, 57% DE
Differential turnout; difference between constituency turnout is masked, for example in 2015, Dunbarton East had a turnout of 81.9% but Manchester Central had a turnout of 44.3%
Increase in non-electoral participation, such as pressure groups and consumer campaigns

Overall summary

Overall, though turnout has started to increase since 2001 where it reached an all time low of 59.4%, to 2015 when turnout was 66.1%, turnout is still significantly lower than pre-1997 where averages were around 77%.It could be argued that this is due to an increase in political apathy as voters feel the main political parties have converging ideologies and their votes make little difference to the overall state of affairs.Lower classes may feel disillusioned with the 'political class' and many people may have little trust in the government and politicians.For example, a 2013 survey showed that 9% of voters trusted politicians vs 6% of non-voters.

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Low Electoral Turnout