UK Election 2010

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

With the Lib Dem surge, is there any chance of a noticeable block of UKIP or BNP voters deciding to tactically vote for the Lib Dems in the hopes that a hung parliament leads to proportional voting?  Or are UKIP/BNP supporters obstinate enough to waste votes for them in the general elections in the first place unlikely to vote Lib Dem for tactical reasons?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

With the Lib Dem surge, is there any chance of a noticeable block of UKIP or BNP voters deciding to tactically vote for the Lib Dems in the hopes that a hung parliament leads to proportional voting?  Or are UKIP/BNP supporters obstinate enough to waste votes for them in the general elections in the first place unlikely to vote Lib Dem for tactical reasons?

People who vote for those parties tend not to... um... think about their vote in such terms.

[Meeker]

With the Lib Dem surge, is there any chance of a noticeable block of UKIP or BNP voters deciding to tactically vote for the Lib Dems in the hopes that a hung parliament leads to proportional voting?  Or are UKIP/BNP supporters obstinate enough to waste votes for them in the general elections in the first place unlikely to vote Lib Dem for tactical reasons?

Nick Clegg would need to start talking about how dirty brown people are for this to happen.

[You kip if you want to...]

With the Lib Dem surge, is there any chance of a noticeable block of UKIP or BNP voters deciding to tactically vote for the Lib Dems in the hopes that a hung parliament leads to proportional voting?  Or are UKIP/BNP supporters obstinate enough to waste votes for them in the general elections in the first place unlikely to vote Lib Dem for tactical reasons?

I think the thought of a UKIP or BNP voter considering a vote for the LibDems, even tactically, is hilarious. I'm sure they'll love their EU, trident and immigration policies.

[Gustaf]

Well, this sure got interesting. But I don't like the Liberal Democrats very much, so I'm still hoping for a Tory win.

[You kip if you want to...]

Well, this sure got interesting. But I don't like the Liberal Democrats very much, so I'm still hoping for a Tory win.

FOr me, a Tory win is much more preferable to a strong Lib Dem showing.

[The Mikado]

By the way, change08, looking at your sig...I'm sure that the first thing Kim Jong-Il thinks of in the morning is Trident removal.  Yes, ending a fairly large country's submarine-based second strike capability is crucial to North Korea's strategic objectives, which, as a country with an unreliable bunch of nukes that could be counted on the fingers of one hand and no delivery system that could even theoretically hit Britain, needs every advantage it could get.

[k-onmmunist]

Well, this sure got interesting. But I don't like the Liberal Democrats very much, so I'm still hoping for a Tory win.

FOr me, a Tory win is much more preferable to a strong Lib Dem showing.

Fake leftie.

[You kip if you want to...]

Well, this sure got interesting. But I don't like the Liberal Democrats very much, so I'm still hoping for a Tory win.

FOr me, a Tory win is much more preferable to a strong Lib Dem showing.

Fake leftie.

No, i'm just a Labour hack who wouldn't want them coming third in the popular vote.

[minionofmidas]

Well, this sure got interesting. But I don't like the Liberal Democrats very much, so I'm still hoping for a Tory win.

FOr me, a Tory win is much more preferable to a strong Lib Dem showing.

Fake leftie.

A fake leftie who dislikes a rival, more successful, but very much different brand of fake lefty.

In other news, sun rises in east, sinks in west.

[Verily]

BTW, GDP figures are due on Friday and growth is expected to be +0.4.
A good news cycle to follow the debate for Labour?

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE63F1EE20100416?type=marketsNews

I doubt +0.4% could be spun as good news by anyone, considering other countries pretty much all have better growth rates.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

With the Lib Dem surge, is there any chance of a noticeable block of UKIP or BNP voters deciding to tactically vote for the Lib Dems in the hopes that a hung parliament leads to proportional voting?  Or are UKIP/BNP supporters obstinate enough to waste votes for them in the general elections in the first place unlikely to vote Lib Dem for tactical reasons?

People who vote for those parties tend not to... um... think about their vote in such terms.

Considering that the UKIP and BNP (as well as the Greens) have consistently done much better in European elections than in general elections, I think that stating that such voters don't make tactical votes in the general elections is an error.  What is different is that in this general election, such voters would have a reason to make a pro-LD tactical vote instead of the usual pro/anti-Tory/Lab options for a tactical vote.  (Whether that reason might attract such voters is less clear and what I hoped for was a thoughtful answer, not a knee-jerk 'only idiots vote for them' response.  You're usually better than that Al.  At least Meeker and change08 pointed out policy differences that in their opinion would make a tactical vote in hopes of gaining proportional representation unlikely.)

[Хahar 🤔]

By the way, change08, looking at your sig...I'm sure that the first thing Kim Jong-Il thinks of in the morning is Trident removal.  Yes, ending a fairly large country's submarine-based second strike capability is crucial to North Korea's strategic objectives, which, as a country with an unreliable bunch of nukes that could be counted on the fingers of one hand and no delivery system that could even theoretically hit Britain, needs every advantage it could get.

I just find it interesting that these are being made for the yellows now.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Considering that the UKIP and BNP (as well as the Greens) have consistently done much better in European elections than in general elections, I think that stating that such voters don't make tactical votes in the general elections is an error.

Assuming that people who voted for either (especially UKIP) are 'their' voters is, I think, a bigger mistake. UKIP's vote in European Elections is close to being pure protest.

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I'll put it in a slightly different way then; no one who votes for the BNP or UKIP cares about electoral reform.

[Verily]

I do think that a portion of the BNP vote, anyway, is pure protest, even in places like Oldham or Burnley or Barking that do have a history of racism. Oldham and Burnley, in particular, have seen some local results that suggest some voters switching directly from the LDs to the BNP or from the BNP to the LDs.

Of course, they're not voting tactically. They're just making protest votes against Labour and the Conservatives.

[Phony Moderate]

Still, "not this weekend." Maybe it will be an April Fool's Day Election, lol. Can you imagine the puns?

'Liberal Democrats Leading In Polls'

This is quite....weird.

[Hash]

BTW, GDP figures are due on Friday and growth is expected to be +0.4.
A good news cycle to follow the debate for Labour?

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE63F1EE20100416?type=marketsNews

Don't be a desperate hack.

[k-onmmunist]

Still, "not this weekend." Maybe it will be an April Fool's Day Election, lol. Can you imagine the puns?

'Liberal Democrats Leading In Polls'

This is quite....weird.

LOL. Oh dear. I look like a moron now.

[Phony Moderate]

BTW, GDP figures are due on Friday and growth is expected to be +0.4.
A good news cycle to follow the debate for Labour?

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE63F1EE20100416?type=marketsNews

Don't be a desperate hack.

I don't think it will do Labour any harm, but probably not much good either.

[rob in cal]

Concerning proportional representation, I believe in France the issue is more clear cut.  National Front voters there remember (or at least the more engaged ones), that the PR system of the 1986 elections was crucial in the party winning 35 seats. Without it, about the same amount of votes in 1988 yielded the party no seats IIRC.  In the 1995 Presidential election, the socialist candidate, Jospin, expressly called for at least some proportional representation in national assembly elections, and that was viewed as a clear cut appeal to National Front voters.

[You kip if you want to...]

Anyone else find it funny that the LibDems probably selected random PPCs in semi-safe Lab/Con seats, thinking they can't win? Should this surge be sustained, we could have a HoC of unprepared, random former parish councillors.

[Psychic Octopus]

Still, "not this weekend." Maybe it will be an April Fool's Day Election, lol. Can you imagine the puns?

'Liberal Democrats Leading In Polls'

This is quite....weird.

LOL. Oh dear. I look like a moron now.

This just shows how radically elections can change in a short period of time. I could make a Scott Brown reference, but what is the point?

I wonder if the Lib Dems can gain 100 seats in this election... certainly would be a unexpected result.

[Silent Hunter]

Anyone else find it funny that the LibDems probably selected random PPCs in semi-safe Lab/Con seats, thinking they can't win? Should this surge be sustained, we could have a HoC of unprepared, random former parish councillors.

Wasn't 1945 a bit like that?

[You kip if you want to...]

Anyone else find it funny that the LibDems probably selected random PPCs in semi-safe Lab/Con seats, thinking they can't win? Should this surge be sustained, we could have a HoC of unprepared, random former parish councillors.

Wasn't 1945 a bit like that?

Yeah, probably.

[Hash]

Anyone else find it funny that the LibDems probably selected random PPCs in semi-safe Lab/Con seats, thinking they can't win? Should this surge be sustained, we could have a HoC of unprepared, random former parish councillors.

That's basically what happened in Quebec in 2007 with the ADQ. Most of their MNAs were young paper candidates with no actual brain.