Posted: Friday 7 October 2011
Expert analysis of voting behaviour in the Scottish Elections
Lawrie Carlaw of S6 offers this insight into the September 30 lecture:
To introduce 6th year to the way in which university learning is handled, Talking Points’ guest speaker was Professor John Curtice, the Deputy Director of CREST (Centre for Research into Elections and Social Trends) which is based in London. Professor Curtice is primarily a professor at the University of Strathclyde though, and his topic is politics, specifically elections and voting behaviour.
John Curtice gave an hour-long presentation outlining the results and consequences of the 2011 Scottish Parliamentary Elections, which was filled with surveys, graphs and enough information to grant anyone in 6th year the knowledge to gain an “A” in higher modern studies.
Just like a university lecture you had to keep up with what he was saying, and if you did you would have found yourself positively enthralled. Professor Curtice asked and answered the most relevant questions that arose from the outcome of the elections (which was a huge SNP majority), such as the referendum on independence for Scotland and what its bearing was on the country in the next few years. An interesting fact was that although the SNP received the highest proportion of votes by a considerable amount, more than half of people who voted for them and who were asked the question of whether or not they would wish Scotland to be independent responded negatively.
This shows the effectiveness of the change of strategy that the Governing party attempted in their campaign. In the 2007 elections a vote for SNP was very closely associated with a vote for independence. However, in the 2011 elections they managed to distance themselves from this idea and that allowed their popular policies to take precedence.
The modern studies teachers were all at the edge of their seats and were keen to ask questions at the lunch with the professor after the lecture. It was definitely an opportunity to gain first-hand experience of higher education, and every student enjoyed this chance. I’m sure that some of those in attendance hope to see Professor Curtice soon in Strathclyde, but I know we all welcomed his visit.