Themes of elections
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It is the expectation that the leader's personality would have a very little effect on the end result of an election. However, by the 1960's political television was well established and so the voices, faces and more importantly the personalities of the party leaders came through. There is a marked balance in the public's estimation party leaders, if one is clearly preferred or disliked than another, then it will have a great impact on the result. Example of this follows. Although Mr. Callaghan was popular in 1979, Mrs. Thatcher was not unpopular. When given choice voters seemed to prefer Thatcher. Another example is in 1983 Mr. Foot was Labour leader. Only 13% thought he should be the Prime Minister and 63% said he should not.
There was clearly a connection between the Major part leaders and the voting choice. Among people who voted Labour in 1979 but did not in 1983 Mr. foots overall score was over -54 while Thatches was -8. The party leaders had a negative effect in 1983. Mr. foot in particular put people off voting for Labour but a dislike for Thatcher meant that some votes did not go to the Conservatives.
In Britain ...
