Political Parties and Elections Essay Questions

Success Criteria – I can… What you will learn… Success Criteria – I can… Describe different methods used by political parties during election campaigns. Explain why some strategies are more effective than others. How to construct answers for essay questions on media strategies.

Possible Essay Questions Evaluate the effectiveness of modern technology used by political parties during election campaigns. 12 (2015 paper) Evaluate the impact of media strategies used by political parties during election campaigns. 12 (2017 paper) Traditional grassroots campaigning remains the most effective strategy for political parties during elections. Discuss (20) (Specimen Paper)

Evaluate the success of media strategies used by political parties during election campaigns. 12 Credit Reference to aspects of the following: use of media advisors and spin doctors party strategies to set the news agenda the use of party election broadcasts leaders’ TV debates use of new media, digital strategies and social media

Evaluate the success of media strategies used by political parties during election campaigns. 12 Suggested Plan: Brief Intro Paragraph 1: Party Election Broadcasts Paragraph 2: Leader’s Debates Paragraph 3: Digital Media/Social Media Brief Conclusion – sum up overall. In each paragraph: Discuss the strategy and its use, with examples, by various parties. Indicate how successful/unsuccessful the strategy was through election results.

Digital campaigns are increasingly significant in recent elections with parties making use of social media to raise awareness of issues and how they are going to respond to them. Digital campaigns enable the parties to reach sections of the population easily by making use of social network sites such as Facebook or Twitter. (K) The prevalence of some social network sites enables parties to quickly reach specific section of the electorate such as younger voters. By 2009, in preparation for the General Election in 2010, the Conservative party had put seven staff into place to run their internet strategy, alongside a design agency. (K) In contrast, the Labour party had only three members of staff within the new media team. They worked closely with a digital design agency (as well as volunteers and advisers) to put forward their plans and approach. The Liberal Democrats tended to use party volunteers in order to develop their online campaign strategy. (KE) The Conservatives favoured an approach similar to that found in the private sector with a ‘top-down’ policy towards marketing. As part of their media strategy, the Conservatives also used YouTube to try and engage with the public, as well as making use of ‘WebCameron’ to market David Cameron to the voters. (KE) The 2010 General Election clearly demonstrated a desire by the main political parties to increase their online presence. Although in some ways the Conservatives benefited from this (through increased web traffic and social networking ‘hits’), it could be said that this does not always translate into support at the ballot box. Although they won the most seats, they had to enter a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. (E)

Traditional grassroots campaigning remains the most effective strategy for political parties during elections. Discuss (20) Award marks where candidates refer to the following aspects of the question: key aspects of traditional grassroots campaigning such as canvassing, leafleting, ground work, mobilising local turnout and the work of local parties and volunteers key aspects of the use of new technology such as the use of social media (Facebook, Twitter etc), voter databases, online advertising, mobile apps, video sharing platforms key aspects of media strategies such as relationships with the press, leaders’ TV debates, use of media advisors and spin doctors, strategies to set the news agenda and use of party election broadcasts impact of these strategies on electoral performance of parties through factors such as affecting turnout, targeting specific categories of voters, for example young voters, mobilising supporters, fundraising, efficient allocation of resources and levels of support.

A traditional tactic used by parties during campaigns is canvassing A traditional tactic used by parties during campaigns is canvassing. This is when party workers and often candidates will go around doors and speak to the electorate. This enable parties to get their messages across to voters ‘on the doorstep’. These methods are often employed during by-election campaigns where parties will often ‘bus in’ a large number of supporters or volunteers from outwith the local area. The candidate and party workers can knock on doors or stand in busy areas in the community such as town centres. This gives the opportunity to inform people of their policies and discuss manifesto details and answer questions the electorate may have. This may also give parties feedback on the effectiveness of their campaign and information on the level of their support in the local area which may enable them to target their resources more effectively. Political parties will often target the electorate when canvassing using pre-existing canvassing data. This canvassing data will inform the party workers if the voters have ever indicated if they would be likely to vote for their political party. If during further discussions the voter reveals that they may be open to vote for the political party and the issues that are important to them, they will record this data and feed it back to the party headquarters to complete statistical analysis. This may trigger further contact with these voters.