Social media cuts floating voters by a third in marginal seat
Friday, 07 May 2010
A social media experiment targeting undecided voters in a key marginal seat has resulted in almost a third making their minds up about who to vote for. A survey of nearly 250 voters in Hove and Portslade found that 71% were undecided on who to vote for. But after four political parties used social media techniques to communicate with constituents, the number of undecided voters fell to 48%, a swing of 32%.
The experiment in the South Coast constituency, which only had a 420 Labour majority at the last election, used e-mail and the mobile micro-blogger Stuck, a social media platform developed by online car insurance company, swiftcover.com. All voters were given the chance to put their questions directly to parliamentary candidates, with the politicians responding directly via e-mail.
In addition to the drop in the number of undecided voters, the parties taking part in the experiment saw a major shift in intended support. Before the experiment 9% of the undecided voters said they were tending towards voting Conservative; after voters had been contacted by the politicians, the Conservatives saw intended support rise more than threefold to 32% amongst those previously undecided voters.
It was a different story for Labour, the only major party in Hove and Portslade not to take part in the experiment. Initially 5% of the undecided voters said they were tending towards Labour; after being contacted by the other parties, only 8% of the previously undecided voters said they were now tending towards Labour, a very small increase of three percentage points.
The Liberal Democrats and the Green Party, both of whom participated in the experiment, saw voting intentions rise by at least ten percentage points in their favour, whilst UKIP, the fourth party to take part in the experiment, saw its intended support rise from 1% to 5%.
swiftcover.com found:
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Before: Before receiving replies from local politicians
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After: After receiving replies from local politicians
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71% of voters* undecided
28%* decided
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48% of voters* undecided
52%* decided
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Before:
Voting intentions **
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After:
Voting intentions**
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9% Conservative
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32 % Conservative
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5% Labour
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8% Labour (who didn’t participate)
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2% Green
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12% Green
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3% Lib Dem
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16% Lib Dem
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1% UKIP
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5% UKIP
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69% undecided
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27% undecided
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11% refused to say
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100% (total)
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100% (total)
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* total 243, ** total 126; those who were undecided at the start
Tina Shortle, marketing director for swiftcover.com, said the experiment highlighted the fact that many political parties were overlooking the potential of using social media at constituency level. She explained: “This is the first UK election where social media is having a major impact, but it is primarily being used at a high-level, sending out messages nationally, usually from senior figures and activists.
“swiftcover.com’s experiment in Hove shows that there is still a lot of indecision and confusion amongst the majority of voters. However, we found that when voters were given the opportunity to question their politicians directly, and if the politicians took time to respond, voters became engaged in the process, with many coming off the fence and deciding who to vote for.
“For our experiment we used a combination of e-mail and our new Stuck iPhone app, but politicians could just as easily reach out to their constituents using social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook or blogs. The fact is they need to engage with the public more directly so that people feel that their vote makes a difference.”
The experiment used simple social media techniques to connect voters and politicians: when surveyed, voters were given a choice of ten pre-set question themes, including the economy, health, crime, immigration etc, or were invited to pose their own questions. The questions were then passed on to the local candidates of the four main political parties who had agreed to take part in the experiment. The politicians then formulated a response to the questions, which they e-mailed back to voters.
Swiftcover.com’s experiment found that far from being disengaged from the political process, the majority of voters who said they were stuck on who to vote for actually wanted to know more about the different parties and their policies to help them make a decision.
Of the 71% of voters who were undecided, swiftcover.com found:
• 32% said they needed more information about the parties and their policies
• 30% said they were torn between two different parties
• 7% said they were not interested in politics
• 18% said they did not trust politicians
• 78% said that, although undecided, they still intended to vote
• 15% said they were unsure whether to vote or not
Of the total surveyed, swiftcover.com found:
• 60% of all those surveyed were aged under 30
• 43% of all those surveyed were first time voters
• The economy was the biggest issue, as identified by 20% of all surveyed
• Education was the next biggest issue, as identified by 17% of all respondents
• 98% of all respondents received individual responses from three or more parties
• 92% of all surveyed said they found the politicians’ answers helpful
The candidates for the Hove constituency include:
• Celia Barlow MP, Labour (current MP) – did not take part in the experiment
• Mike Weatherley, Conservative
• Paul Elgood, Liberal Democrat
• Paul Perrin, UKIP
• Ian Davey, Green Party
The Stuck iPhone app (www.swiftcover.com/stuck-iphone-app/) was designed by swiftcover.com’s innovation lab, which was set up to develop innovative ideas to make life more hassle-free, which included the UK’s first mobile phone insurance quote system.
The Stuck iPhone app uses geo-location technology to allow people to post a Twitter-style message about the locations or situations in which they are Stuck, which is then uploaded to a map of the world with a time stamp. Users can select a pre-set Stuck emotion, which now includes a politics setting. Other iPhone users can view the world map, click on a Stuck and, using Google maps, zoom in to locate the person who posted the Stuck.
For more information on Stuck and to download the app, visit www.swiftcover.com/stuck-iphone-app/
ENDS
Notes to Editors
For press enquiries please contact:
Paul Beadle or Joshua Van Raalte
Brazil (PR agency for swiftcover.com)
01865 556 000
swiftcover@agencybrazil.com
About swiftcover:
Based in Cobham, Surrey and employing over 800 people, www.swiftcover.com started trading in June 2005 and was born out of a desire to revolutionise the general insurance market.
swiftcover.com offers car, travel and pet insurance online, and is Britain's only insurance company without call centres, which means that the cost savings can be passed directly onto the customer and premiums are kept low. In 2008 swiftcover.com featured as the cheapest insurance quote on the comparison website moneysupermarket.com more often than any other insurer.
This powerful operating model combined with successful marketing and competitive pricing has proven to be a tremendous success. In 2008 swiftcover.com achieved over half a million live policies and in May 2009 sold their one millionth policy. They are considered to be the fastest-growing insurer in the UK.
In 2007, AXA UK acquired swiftcover.com. It is now a wholly owned subsidiary of AXA Insurance UK PLC which forms part of AXA Group.
About AXA:
AXA UK is a part of the AXA Group. AXA is a world leader in financial protection. AXA’s operations are diverse with major operations in Western Europe, North America and the Asia/Pacific area. AXA employs 120,000 staff and tied agents and, as of June 30 2006, had €1,091 billion in assets under management. AXA reported total IFRS revenues of €72 billion and IFRS underlying earnings of €3,258 million for the full year 2005. Our previous company performance is not a guide to how we may perform in the future.
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