ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses approaches and assesses voting behaviour in recent general elections. The period 1945-70 was one of relative stability in voting behaviour in Britain. Studies of voting behaviour at this time concentrated on the social attributes of voters, particularly class alignment and partisan alignment. There is no single rational choice model of voting behaviour, but a number of variants which identify different factors as being notably: The most convincing explanations of recent election outcomes focus on voter perceptions of the competence of the main parties and their leaders. On this basis it is realistic to conclude that party leaders are far more important than they were in the era of partisan alignment, general judgements on the government's record are more likely to sway undecided voters. Finally voter perceptions about the leaders of the main parties and the competence of the governing party, particularly its ability to manage the economy, have been crucial to the outcome of recent general elections.
