The big dividing line in British politics – retirees who gave Johnson his majority
There is some great analysis on voting behaviour in the latest edition of the New Statesman which today publishes the chart above in an article by Ben Walker.
As can be seen British Election Study data on what happened in December 2019 finds that if you exclude retirees then LAB was in the lead by a margin of 3.1%. But if you include them the Tories lead by 11%.
As well as being pro-Tory a big factor about the old is that they are much more likely to be on the electoral register in the area where they live and are more likely to turn out.
So while Labour goes through the current self-examination of how it can stop losing elections it can take some comfort by still being the party of workers.
During the pandemic, of course, the trend could have been accentuated for the section of society who have suffered less are pensioners and the Tories have been unltra-careful in not alienating them.
Is this a permanent fact of British politics or can this change? I am sure that during the Blair years this voting split did not happen.