Suchergebnisse

The 1997 British General Election appeared to show a clear-cut case of the media influencing electoral behaviour. In an attempt to facilitate anti-Conservative tactical voting The Observer published the results of 16 constituency-level opinion polls. The newspaper is frequently seen as influential in determining the outcome in certain seats, where several high-profile members of the then Conservative government were defeated. In fact The Observer appears to have had very little impact in the seats it covered. Higher levels of tactical voting occured in few of these constituencies than in comparable seats elsewhere, and changes in the share of the vote consistent with the paper influencing the outcome are even rarer. In just one of the 16 seats covered by the paper is there prima facie evidence of the claimed effect.

The 1997 British General Election appeared to show a clear-cut case of the media influencing electoral behavior. In an attempt to facilitate anti-Conservative tactical voting, The Observer published the results of 16 constituency-level opinion polls. The newspaper is frequently seen as influential in determining the outcome in certain seats, where several high-profile members of the then Conservative government were defeated. In fact, however, The Observer appears to have had very little impact on the election results for the seats it covered. Higher levels of tactical voting occurred in fewer of these constituencies than in comparable seats elsewhere, & changes in the share of the vote consistent with the paper influencing the outcome were even rarer. In just one of the 16 seats covered by the paper is there prima facie evidence of the claimed effect. 4 Tables, 13 References. Adapted from the source document.

This note re-examines the survey data gathered by the Members of Parliament Project (MPP) on the attitudes of British parliamentarians towards European integration. Central to the analysis of the MPP is the idea that within the parties there is at work a dramatic cohort effect: long-serving Labour MPs are Eurosceptic, but the more recently elected Labour MPs are pro-European; whilst long-serving Conservative MPs are pro-European, but the more recently elected are Eurosceptic. The MPP have argued that this cohort effect began at different times in each party: in 1979 for the Conservatives and in 1987 for Labour. This note finds that whilst this is (largely) true for the Conservatives, it is not true for Labour. According to the MPP's own data, pro-European Labour MPs began entering the House of Commons in 1979, 8 years - and two elections - before the MPP have argued.

This note re-examines the survey data gathered by the Members of Parliament Project (MPP) on the attitudes of British parliamentarians toward European integration. Central to the analysis of the MPP is the idea that, within the parties, there is at work a dramatic cohort effect: long-serving Labour MPs are Euro-skeptic, but the more recently elected Labour MPs are pro-European; while long-serving Conservative MPs are pro-European, but the more recently elected are Euro-skeptic. The MPP has argued that this cohort effect began at different times in each party: in 1979 for the Conservatives & in 1987 for Labour. This note finds that, while this is (largely) true for the Conservatives, it is not true for Labour. According to the MPP's own data, pro-European Labour MPs began entering the House of Commons in 1979, 8 years -- & two elections -- before the MPP has argued. 6 Tables, 9 References. Adapted from the source document.