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Title: Question for UK posters-who's your average voter by party? Post by: Kevin on April 08, 2012, 12:31:56 AM I know pretty well what the average Republican or Democrat is in the US. But in the UK who is your average Conservative, Labour, or Lib Dem supporter?
I ask because amongst the Conservatives their average base voter in many ways seems like certain sections of the Republican party in the US in many ways. For instance, your average Tory I've read and heard is likely to be a middle aged to older white male, upper-middle class, live in a market town or area like Surrey, Hampshire, or Southern England in general. And are likely to to have all around conservative views and traditional attitudes. I.e hates the EU, doesn't like many aspects that come with the welfare state(with the possible exception of the NHS), and not entirely crazy about immigration. However, I've found it very hard to pin who your average Labour or Liberal Democrat is. Esp. considering that Labour seems to be undergoing a demographic transition to the best of my understanding since I've heard their historical white working class base is leaving the party but not gravitating towards anyone. While the Liberal Democrat's seem really hard to pin down except that their support seems to be amongst those who are like academics, urban professionals etc. Although they seem to be kind of a catch all party since their views and brand seem to differ by region. Am I right in this assessment or not? If not what is the profile of your typical Tory, Lab, and Lib Dem? Title: Re: Question for UK posters-who's your average voter by party? Post by: Filuwaúrdjan on April 08, 2012, 07:33:07 AM The One True And Accurate Guide To British Political Parties:
Quote People in Britain are divided between the Red Party, the Blue Party and people who don’t like either. The main dividing line between the parties is that followers of the Red Party say ‘bath’ and followers of the Blue Party say ‘barth’. All subsequent policy differences stem from this fundamental linguistic division, as people who say ‘bath’ are more likely to live in small houses and follow football than people who say ‘barth’, while people who say ‘barth’ are more likely to have gone to university and to pretend to follow football than people who say ‘bath’. The ‘bath/barth’ division has dominated British politics since 1924. People who do not like either Party do so for different reasons. The largest group (who support the Yellow Party) think that what matters is not how words are pronounced, but the manner in which they are uttered. They tend to argue that supporters of the Red and Blue parties are wrong to say ‘bath’ or ‘barth’ like this when they ought to say either like that. Supporters of the Yellow Party tend to like muesli or tractors but never both. Other parties include the Purple Party (who want to invade Belgium), the Whites Only Group (who hate people with dark skins and like to shave their heads – presumably to prove their whiteness) and the Green Party (who say ‘barth’ but also like trees and soft drugs). In addition, there are the Blue and White Party (who say ‘bath’ but are supported by people who would say ‘barth’ if they lived south of the wall and who want a divorce) and the Red and Green Party (who say ‘bath’ in an unusual way and who want a trial period of separation but won’t comment on suggestions of divorce). Finally there are the Northern Ireland Parties. They are divided over the correct position that a bowler hat should be worn in and used to shoot each other for reasons that make no sense. I should probably update it for the Coalition Age (in which We Are All In It Together: But Some Of Us Are More In It Than Others), but it's still fundamentally accurate. On a slightly more serious note, the most important thing to remember about British politics is that (outside Scotland especially) the underlying patterns haven't altered all that much (and certainly less than in normal countries) for a very long time. Title: Re: Question for UK posters-who's your average voter by party? Post by: You kip if you want to... on April 08, 2012, 10:21:52 AM One question that i'm gonna stuggle to answer until we get to 2015 is who still is a Liberal Democrat voter?
It was always students, West Country-ers and yes, academics and urban professionals. (Basically, (except for the West Country) people who were left-wing, but didn't wish to be seen as voting for a 'workers' party) Who are the remaining 10% who're voting Liberal? Title: Re: Question for UK posters-who's your average voter by party? Post by: Antonio the Sixth on April 08, 2012, 10:35:56 AM One question that i'm gonna stuggle to answer until we get to 2015 is who still is a Liberal Democrat voter? It was always students, West Country-ers and yes, academics and urban professionals. (Basically, (except for the West Country) people who were left-wing, but didn't wish to be seen as voting for a 'workers' party) Who are the remaining 10% who're voting Liberal? The LDs are still polling at 10% ? Wow. Title: Re: Question for UK posters-who's your average voter by party? Post by: You kip if you want to... on April 08, 2012, 11:51:58 AM One question that i'm gonna stuggle to answer until we get to 2015 is who still is a Liberal Democrat voter? It was always students, West Country-ers and yes, academics and urban professionals. (Basically, (except for the West Country) people who were left-wing, but didn't wish to be seen as voting for a 'workers' party) Who are the remaining 10% who're voting Liberal? The LDs are still polling at 10% ? Wow. Well, it's hit-and-miss really... http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/voting-intention Title: Re: Question for UK posters-who's your average voter by party? Post by: tpfkaw on April 08, 2012, 12:10:23 PM Here's a map I found of '79, which is the last time the Libs were in the low teens.
() Title: Re: Question for UK posters-who's your average voter by party? Post by: Antonio the Sixth on April 08, 2012, 12:53:15 PM One question that i'm gonna stuggle to answer until we get to 2015 is who still is a Liberal Democrat voter? It was always students, West Country-ers and yes, academics and urban professionals. (Basically, (except for the West Country) people who were left-wing, but didn't wish to be seen as voting for a 'workers' party) Who are the remaining 10% who're voting Liberal? The LDs are still polling at 10% ? Wow. Well, it's hit-and-miss really... http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/voting-intention Considering their great job as junior coalition partners, I'm surprised they aren't at FDP levels. Title: Re: Question for UK posters-who's your average voter by party? Post by: Filuwaúrdjan on April 08, 2012, 01:25:16 PM Anyone have any idea what fool coloured that map in?
Anyways, people should remember that 'even' 10% would still be a loss of a majority of support from 2010... It was always students, West Country-ers and yes, academics and urban professionals. (Basically, (except for the West Country) people who were left-wing, but didn't wish to be seen as voting for a 'workers' party) Academics? Not especially. Title: Re: Question for UK posters-who's your average voter by party? Post by: minionofmidas on April 08, 2012, 01:30:14 PM Anyone have any idea what fool coloured that map in? Title: Re: Question for UK posters-who's your average voter by party? Post by: Leftbehind on April 09, 2012, 05:28:24 AM One question that i'm gonna stuggle to answer until we get to 2015 is who still is a Liberal Democrat voter? It was always students, West Country-ers and yes, academics and urban professionals. (Basically, (except for the West Country) people who were left-wing, but didn't wish to be seen as voting for a 'workers' party) Who are the remaining 10% who're voting Liberal? In the age of New Labour I very much doubt any left-winger was voting Liberal because Labour were seen as the workers party. Title: Re: Question for UK posters-who's your average voter by party? Post by: You kip if you want to... on April 09, 2012, 12:42:00 PM One question that i'm gonna stuggle to answer until we get to 2015 is who still is a Liberal Democrat voter? It was always students, West Country-ers and yes, academics and urban professionals. (Basically, (except for the West Country) people who were left-wing, but didn't wish to be seen as voting for a 'workers' party) Who are the remaining 10% who're voting Liberal? In the age of New Labour I very much doubt any left-winger was voting Liberal because Labour were seen as the workers party. 1997-2007, sure. Title: Re: Question for UK posters-who's your average voter by party? Post by: Leftbehind on April 09, 2012, 05:21:49 PM I'd contest that it applied for '92 or '10, either.
I think much of your analysis isn't far off Kevin. If we're dealing with generalities, I think WWC do still lean to Labour moreso than any other party, but they can't be relied on to vote like in the past. I'd add to your Conservative list pro-marketers. Also, whilst the Liberal vote in recent decades started to take segments of the electorate normally aligned to Labour voters (students, social liberals, anti-war etc), you did have the regional variation in which they'd play up their left-wing credentials in Con seats and right-wing in Lab seats (such are the benefits of being an awkward merger between social liberals and classical liberals), nearly all of that has gone out of the window now, and the Liberal vote today looks to be mainly the classical liberals I mentioned earlier as well as a minority of social liberals who are reluctant to give up their party/jump to an unreconstucted authoritarian Labour party. Title: Re: Question for UK posters-who's your average voter by party? Post by: Fmr President & Senator Polnut on April 09, 2012, 06:15:57 PM I know pretty well what the average Republican or Democrat is in the US. But in the UK who is your average Conservative, Labour, or Lib Dem supporter? I ask because amongst the Conservatives their average base voter in many ways seems like certain sections of the Republican party in the US n many ways. For instance, your average Tory I've read and heard is likely to be a middle aged to older white male, upper-middle class, live in a market town or area like Surrey, Hampshire, or Southern England in general. And are likely to to have all around conservative views and traditional attitudes. I.e hates the EU, doesn't like many aspects that come with the welfare state(with the possible exception of the NHS), and not entirely crazy about immigration. However, I've found it very hard to pin who your average Labour or Liberal Democrat is. Esp. considering that Labour seems to be undergoing a demographic transition to the best of my understanding since I've heard their historical white working class base is leaving the party but not gravitating towards anyone. While the Liberal Democrat's seem really hard to pin down except that their support seems to be amongst those who are like academics, urban professionals etc. Although they seem to be kind of a catch all party since their views and brand seem to differ by region. Am I right in this assessment or not? If not what is the profile of your typical Tory, Lab, and Lib Dem? While not a UK-ite :P I think you're looking at the Conservatives through GOP lenses. Sure there are definitely very conservative members, but you'll find the dividing line is far more murky. Very few UK Conservatives would feel terribly comfortable being members of the GOP, especially during this season. Title: Re: Question for UK posters-who's your average voter by party? Post by: politicus on April 10, 2012, 07:55:49 AM Who is the average Plaid Cymru voter? (apart from being Welsh of course)
Title: Re: Question for UK posters-who's your average voter by party? Post by: minionofmidas on April 11, 2012, 04:16:45 AM Either a rural Cymrophone Nonconformist, or a Labour supporter from a mining valley casting a protest vote against his party, or a middle class person from a polity dominated by Labour mining valleys casting a tactical vote.
In order of magnitude. Title: Re: Question for UK posters-who's your average voter by party? Post by: Gustaf on April 11, 2012, 05:58:01 AM Either a rural Cymrophone Nonconformist, or a Labour supporter from a mining valley casting a protest vote against his party, or a middle class person from a polity dominated by Labour mining valleys casting a tactical vote. In order of magnitude. The average Plaid Cymru voter sounds rather schizophrenic if he/she is all those things in order of magnitude. Title: Re: Question for UK posters-who's your average voter by party? Post by: minionofmidas on April 11, 2012, 06:01:26 AM Either a rural Cymrophone Nonconformist, or a Labour supporter from a mining valley casting a protest vote against his party, or a middle class person from a polity dominated by Labour mining valleys casting a tactical vote. In order of magnitude. The average Plaid Cymru voter sounds rather schizophrenic if he/she is all those things in order of magnitude. Title: Re: Question for UK posters-who's your average voter by party? Post by: Filuwaúrdjan on April 11, 2012, 11:59:31 AM Either a rural Cymrophone Nonconformist, or a Labour supporter from a mining valley casting a protest vote against his party, or a middle class person from a polity dominated by Labour mining valleys casting a tactical vote. In order of magnitude. Or a middle class Welsh Speaker, especially in Gwynedd. Title: Re: Question for UK posters-who's your average voter by party? Post by: minionofmidas on April 11, 2012, 12:00:51 PM Either a rural Cymrophone Nonconformist, or a Labour supporter from a mining valley casting a protest vote against his party, or a middle class person from a polity dominated by Labour mining valleys casting a tactical vote. In order of magnitude. Or a middle class Welsh Speaker, especially in Gwynedd. And, when viewed from the metropoles, rural even if they live in Bangor or Caernarfon. Title: Re: Question for UK posters-who's your average voter by party? Post by: Filuwaúrdjan on April 11, 2012, 12:01:44 PM Either a rural Cymrophone Nonconformist, or a Labour supporter from a mining valley casting a protest vote against his party, or a middle class person from a polity dominated by Labour mining valleys casting a tactical vote. In order of magnitude. Or a middle class Welsh Speaker, especially in Gwynedd. And, when viewed from the metropoles, rural even if they live in Bangor or Caernarfon. ;D |