Following the 2019 election, some heralded a great realignment in British politics. Contrary to historic trends, increasing volumes of working classes voted for the Conservative Party, reflecting the popularity of Brexit and Boris Johnson. Three years later, the picture is mixed. Whilst the Conservatives have maintained support among working classes – against a background of declining popularity, lower classes (C2, D, E)
"institutions are path dependent" I wish I knew what that meant. And I am not being ironic. And by the way my partner of 26 years refers to Substack as Twitter for the over 70's. (I shall ignore this remark)
"partisan identification has declined" Yes. As 'society' becomes moribund, increasingly groups will only coalesce at crucial junctures, cf. Brexit. They will then melt away and carry on watching Strictly. Against this there is tribal allegiance - something that is to me inexplicable, since over my voting career I have managed to put my tick against all of them. But tribal allegiance is, well, tribal. It is as binding as the Cammora. You say that the Conservative Party has transformed into a working class party. This happened a very long time ago. My great aunt, born at the beginning of the 20th Century voted Tory all her life. She worked for the most part in a canning factory and was resolutely working class, from a long line of fisher folk. My partner votes Labour and will never consider doing otherwise. In fact, she would vote for a discarded cigarette packet if it had a red cover. (Marlboro?) She is quintessentially middle class and has a PhD in something real and useful. Yes, this is anecdotal, but I do believe that what you are getting at is a much deeper and visceral aspect of our being. This is why, when it comes to the next election, there will be a hung Parliament. It may favour Labour, but there are a lot of people out there who never will change their minds.
"institutions are path dependent" I wish I knew what that meant. And I am not being ironic. And by the way my partner of 26 years refers to Substack as Twitter for the over 70's. (I shall ignore this remark)
"partisan identification has declined" Yes. As 'society' becomes moribund, increasingly groups will only coalesce at crucial junctures, cf. Brexit. They will then melt away and carry on watching Strictly. Against this there is tribal allegiance - something that is to me inexplicable, since over my voting career I have managed to put my tick against all of them. But tribal allegiance is, well, tribal. It is as binding as the Cammora. You say that the Conservative Party has transformed into a working class party. This happened a very long time ago. My great aunt, born at the beginning of the 20th Century voted Tory all her life. She worked for the most part in a canning factory and was resolutely working class, from a long line of fisher folk. My partner votes Labour and will never consider doing otherwise. In fact, she would vote for a discarded cigarette packet if it had a red cover. (Marlboro?) She is quintessentially middle class and has a PhD in something real and useful. Yes, this is anecdotal, but I do believe that what you are getting at is a much deeper and visceral aspect of our being. This is why, when it comes to the next election, there will be a hung Parliament. It may favour Labour, but there are a lot of people out there who never will change their minds.