The Analysis of Short-Term Influences

Abstract

The issues of modern politics are extraordinarily varied, but common processes can be seen in the way various issues sway the electorate. We can build a general framework that will allow us to analyze the actual or potential contribution of any issue to electoral change. Elements of such a framework are indeed implicit in our treatment of the “issues” that underlie the great alignments which have endured for long periods of British politics. Consider the role of social class in electoral change. The simplest conception of the place of class in party choice involves the triangular relationship between elector, class and party that we set out in Chapter 4.