Voting Conservative Is Contagious, New Study Claims

Voting conservative is contagious, according to the left-wing Observer newspaper. People who move to right-leaning areas are more likely to vote for the Conservative Party.

The study showed that those who move to Tory heartlands in the Home Counties are much more likely to support the party whatever their views were before the move.

The study seem to find that right-wing voters are more flexible, and indeed that moving into a nicer area may affect the way one votes.

Researchers analysed the attitudes of the 10 percent of Britons who moved homes. They found that “movers to safe Conservative seats became more economically rightwing and more likely to vote Conservative after the move”. 

The team concluded that the pressure to conform to the majority was much stronger in less diverse areas like Tunbridge Wells.

They also discovered that the same cannot be said for those who move to Labour areas. Professor Patrick Sturgis, of the University of Southampton, said: “If you move to Tunbridge Wells from Salford, on average, people become a bit more right-wing over time. 

“It is the move that is causing the change, because the comparison is with people who don’t move.

“Yet we don’t find the same with people moving to Labour areas. We think the reason is that people who move to Labour areas are already pretty leftwing, so there is no space for movement.

“People who move to Tory areas are more variable in their politics.”

The group surveyed the political opinions of more than 17,000 people who had moved house between 1991 and 2008.