that the ground campaign encompasses. 208 Therefore, the following section of the essay will attempt to clarify some of the arguments that appears in academic studies and will argue that in the post-modern campaign, ground campaigning plays a vital role in mobilizing support for parties in the grassroots that provides a platform for parties to build upon in the national campaign. Pattie and Johnston contend that since the latter part of the twentieth century, much of the research literature has referred to a new orthodoxy that emphasises the relevance of ground campaigns; 209 Denver and Hands make reference to the Michigan Model of voter identification and argue that, as a result of an erosion in the class cleavage resulting in a weakening of party identification, voters are more likely to be influenced by short-term factors such as local campaigns, thus concur that ‘party profession als at both regional and national level invest enormous efforts in constituency campaigns...that campaigning. ..in marginal seats can make all the difference’. 210 Such renewed efforts into ground campaigns can be seen in British elections and, in particular, in the 1992 general election. Denver and Hands, in their study of the 1992 general election, argue that strong ground party campaigns had the effect of increasing turnout by approximately 5 percentage points, which had a positive impact on the vote share of the parties that had an extensive constituency campaign. Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats, Denver and Hands show, out-performed the Conservatives in the campaign activity of distributing posters in marginals (Labour distributed an average of 4681 posters in marginals and the Liberal Democrats distributed 3663 compared to the Conservatives 1395) and this may have had a direct 208 Nielsen, p.7 209 Pattie, C & Johnston, R. (2009). Still talking, but is anyone listening?: The changing face of constituency campaigning in Britain, 1997-2005. Party Politics, 15 (4), p.414 210 Denver, D., & Hands, G. (1997). Challengers, incumbents and the impacts of constituency campaigning in Britain. Electoral Studies, 16 (2), p.521
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