The United Kingdom 2017 election

Polarisation in a Split Issue Space

Bibliographic Data

ID6405986
AuthorsC Vaccari (0000-0003-0380-8921, Loughborough University), Kaat Smets (0000-0003-4013-6255, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK), Oliver Heath (0000-0002-1350-3040, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK)
Year2020
Volume43
Issue3
Pages587-609
Publication date2020-04-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueWest European Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0140-2382 • E-ISSN: 1743-9655
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01402382.2019.1655961
OpenAlexW2924776488
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited18

After decades in which party competition was fought in the centre ground, the 2017 UK General Election witnessed a return to more conflictual politics. This article assesses public support for the electoral strategies of the main parties and examines the extent to which the issues the parties campaigned on resonated with their own supporters, as well as with the wider public. Drawing on the issue-yield framework, the article shows that the Conservative campaign – generally considered to be badly run – did not focus on issues that would fully exploit the opportunities for expanding support that were open to the party. Labour, by contrast, played a much better hand. While taking a clear left-wing stance on many policies that were popular with its constituency, the party also skilfully emphasised valence issues that Labour is often seen as more credible on, such as healthcare and education

Competition (biology · Economics · General election · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public support · Space (punctuation) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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