In the 1996 election, this bond was tested when the term 'Howard's Battlers' was ascribed to those 'blue collar' voters in western Sydney that were now voting Liberal, who helped swing the election because they felt ignored by the Labor party. Howard struggled to keep these voters in the following elections, perhaps due to policies or the promise of not introducing any further taxes. However the idea has often been criticized as having less to do with classes and more to do with the fact that most of the seats were 'regional' and 'rural' which the Coalition held even when they were in opposition, and that the remaining seats in Sydney were swinging seats that often go to whoever wins the election (Brent, 2004). .
An important factor to consider is each party's focus on social issues and how they have affected voting, issues such as defense, terrorism and interest rates have generally worked in the Coalitions favor whereas issues such as health, education, privatization and the environment have benefited Labor. If we were to analyse the social factors that made a difference in 1996, it was unemployment, privatization, defense and the environment that were at the forefront (Goot & Watson, 2010). This lends to the notion that we may be living in a time of party 'convergence'. The notion of convergence can also be blamed for obscuring party loyalties, if this is the case, the idea of social classes working against each other as binary opposites to elect a government with policies that are socially important for the day, will be lost, and it may provide the 'elite' with all the power to swing political agenda in accordance with their own needs via means such as the media because voters no longer have an allegiance with a specific political party based on a consistent history.
The media has been a key factor in motivating and influencing political behaviour in the masses since the Second World War.
