U.K. Voting Trends Assessed In Survey

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31661, 23 April 1968, Page 15

U.K. Voting Trends Assessed In Survey

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, April 22. Labour voters tend to be more generous, idealistic, and sympathetic towards the less fortunate than are Conservative voters, according to a survey reported by the “Observer.”

The Conservative, on the other hand, believes himself intensely patriotic, is inclined to favour a tough, aggressive national policy, and is intolerant of unconventional individuals. These are some of the findings of Dr B. G. Stacey, of the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, and Dr R. T. Green, of University College, London, who sent questionnaires to 202 “white-collar” workers —llB Conservative and 84 Labour supporters as part of a survey of voters in the “more salubrious” areas of Coventry. < In non-manual occupations, the odds are three or four to one that electors will vote

Conservative, while among manual workers who belong to a trade union, the same proportion will normally vote Labour.

The survey was specially concerned with the “Mavericks”—those who vote for the party less favoured by their social group. How a man decides to vote depends very much on his own personality and the degree which “the party image" approximates his view of himself, according to the survey, the findings of which supports the notion that a strong part of the “white-collar” section does not regard democracy as an essential element in the British character.