This week we’re looking at the electoral politics of housing. Does whether you own or rent your home affect how you vote? And is this relationship changing over time?
For decades, political scientists believed that a person’s occupation was the strongest predictor of how they would vote. Manual, working-class jobs were associated with left-wing voting, while white-collar professions leaned right.
In recent years, however, this class-based model has been challenged. Education level and age now often predict voting behaviour more accurately than occupation, alongside the growing importance of cultural and identity-based issues such as immigration, gender, and morality.
But does this mean economic status no longer matters in politics? According to new research, the answer is no. Economic status remains a powerful predictor of voting behaviour - but the foundations of that status have changed. Rather than occupation, housing has emerged as a central factor shaping political preferences.
In this episode, Prof Alan Renwick explores this shift with Josh Goddard, a PhD student in the UCL Department of Political Science, whose research sheds new light on how housing has become a key driver of political divides.
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