issue that led members to join the Front, that they perceived their racial ideas to be "common sense", and that they expressed harsh prejudices against non-white Britons. A common perception among members was that life had changed for the worse in Britain, often outlined by the expression: "the country is going to the dogs". The members Fielding encountered widely perceived Britain's political leaders as corrupt and cruel and tended to believe conspiracy theories. Fielding believed that some of the membership were "motivated by a search for community and reassurance in a world they find difficult to understand". For some, joining the NF was a psychological act of defiance against society, while many joined because friends and relatives had done so. Fielding suggested that the NF's moral indignation regarding perceived slackers and anti-social elements had particular appeal for upper working and lower middle-class Britons because these were the sectors of society which felt that they worked hardest for the least reward. During the 1970s, the NF attempted to attract youth through new sub-groups. Many young people attracted to the group may have done so as a form of youthful rebellion, enjoying the "shock value" that membership offered; in this they had similarities with the late 1970s punk movement. Ryan Shaffer stated that the party's shift away from traditional campaigning during the 1980s and its growing affiliation with neo-Nazi youth groups restricted its appeal to "mostly young people". Voter base The NF's electoral support was overwhelmingly urban and English, with little support in rural parts of England or in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. According to Walker, the 1974 election results suggested that the NF's electoral heartlands were in London's East End and inner north-east suburbs. He noted that it gained much support from "respectable working-class" areas, where many traditional Labour voters were attracted by its racial appeals. Examining the party's East End support, the sociologist Christopher T. Husbands argued that NF support was not evenly distributed across the area, but constrained to Bethnal Green, Shoreditch, Hoxton and Haggerston. He noted that in these urban strongholds, "only a minority" of white residents sympathised with the NF. A 1978 survey in the East End by New Society found that while most white residents thought the immigration rate too high, many related positive relationships with Afro-Caribbean and Asian migrants and opposed the NF. Some mocked the Front, although were cautious about doing so publicly,