Taking Minorities for Granted? Ethnic Density, Party Campaigning and Targeting Minority Voters in 2010 British General Elections

Abstract

There are many reasons why political parties can take the racial and ethnic minority voters for granted in Britain. They vote overwhelmingly and loyally for the left-wing parties, have fewer resources than white voters and they mostly live in geographical clusters giving them electoral leverage in a limited number of seats. Yet, minorities participate as much as the white population and seem to do more so in areas of ethnic concentration. Using the British Election Study, Ethnic Minorities British Election Study, British campaign spending data and the electoral agent's survey from 2010 election, we explore the relationship between party campaigning, individual mobilisation and ethnic population density. We find that although minorities perceive less contact, parties campaign just as hard (or harder) in areas of minority concentration and they target minority voters in these areas, However, minority voters living outside of local concentrations of population may experience less contact from parties.