Taking the Bloom off New Labour’s Rose: Party Choice and Voter Turnout in Britain, 2005

This article uses newly available British Election Study (BES) survey data to analyze forces affecting party choice and voter turnout in the 2005 general election. Multivariate analyses indicate that a “post‐9/11” mix of valence issues joined with party leader images and malleable partisan orientations to exert strong effects on party choice. Opinion about the Iraq war affected party support indirectly by influencing voters’ attitudes towards Prime Minister Tony Blair. BES rolling campaign panel survey data show that Conservative support fell throughout the campaign, thereby helping Labour to preserve its parliamentary majority. Finally, a general incentives model of electoral participation indicates that a combination of short‐ and long‐term forces worked to produce a mediocre turnout rate.