Vote 2005, week 2, new poll!

Right, as promised, here is the new election thread. The topic is exactly the same as before. For your reference, the original thread is here:

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...d.php?p=446975

The poll is fresh but with the same questions and answers as before. Please vote again if you voted in the last one so we can see how opinions are changing as the campaign progresses.

[ian@huth]

Perhaps anyone who has changed their vote from the previous week could post that fact and say what has prompted the change.

[skyblueheroes]

Not changed. Still a blue boy.

I do think that people in this country are very naive about polotics (myself inc). I think that what people vote is a quick non-thought process and also probably what their parents voted for !

[etccarmageddon]

where's the GREEN party? I dont see why they should be bundled with the others!!! I thought the whole idea of this site was to seek unbundling of NTL products (and political parties)?

[Ramrod]

Originally Posted by etccarmageddon

where's the GREEN party?

In the doldrums?

Originally Posted by etccarmageddon

where's the GREEN party? I dont see why they should be bundled with the others!!! I thought the whole idea of this site was to seek unbundling of NTL products (and political parties)?

Sitting in option 4, along with all the other parties that stand a worse-than-zero chance of forming a Government on May 6.
__________________

Originally Posted by ian@huth

Perhaps anyone who has changed their vote from the previous week could post that fact and say what has prompted the change.

Nice idea ... although I think some people might like to keep their affiliations or intentions secret, so no pressure.

Personally, I have changed. My outrage at the ID cards scheme led me to flirt with the Lib Dems, but in our present electoral system that would be a wasted vote in my constituency. The only chance of unseating the sitting Labour candidate is to vote Tory. So at the moment that's what I'm planning to do.

[iadom]

Not changed my mind.


Sad to think though that if Labour get just 29% of the votes cast they will have an overall majority. The Conservatives would need over 41% of the votes cast to achieve this.
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Boundary reviews (coming soon) or even a change to the electoral system may be needed, not sure if PR is the best option though.

[etccarmageddon]

I have similar logic to Mr T... I dont want to risk voting for the green party or any other that has great ideals when it could result in another Labour government. I also want to register my support for the Conservatives ideals - in particular low wasting of dosh on 5 a day co-ordinators etc. They will have 5 years to sack all these moronic lesbian fruit liason co-ordinator type jobs and replace them with cops. They also plan to scrap the regional assemblies plus loads of other stuff - loads of info on teletext.

so I've re-voted Conservatives.

[bob_builder]

Glad to see the tactical voting is catching on!

If I lived 100m away in the Cambridge constituancy, I would be voting LibDem to try and kick Labour out but as I do not, I will not!

I am not sure if i should vote lib dem as they are the only ones who stand a real chance of winning the seat from the tory. Labour are not going to win what is a relatively safe seat from the torys but the lib dems do...

Another thing, in the last topic a lot of people voted labour but didnt say it in the actual topic...while torys voters did. Are labour people quieter in this election

[philip.j.fry]

Originally Posted by Chris T

Sitting in option 4, along with all the other parties that stand a worse-than-zero chance of forming a Government on May 6.

So because they have an extremely low probability of forming a Government a vote for one of these parties is worthless? I disagree, democracy means being able to make a choice based on ones own values and a vote can never be wasted. The parties that you have lumped together actually represent the entire political spectrum and if you really want to get a clearer picture of the ideologies that people are voting for then it would be better to split the options out. Plus you forgot the 'I'm going to spoil my ballot paper' option

Originally Posted by philip.j.fry

So because they have an extremely low probability of forming a Government a vote for one of these parties is worthless? I disagree, democracy means being able to make a choice based on ones own values and a vote can never be wasted. The parties that you have lumped together actually represent the entire political spectrum and if you really want to get a clearer picture of the ideologies that people are voting for then it would be better to split the options out. Plus you forgot the 'I'm going to spoil my ballot paper' option

I never saw the poll as being about anything so lofty as ideology ... merely a simple opinion poll exercise aimed at getting an idea of what Parliament will look like on May 6. To that end, separating out the minority parties, who between them have little more than a dozen seats of the 650-odd available, would be a little futile.

I don't think a vote for Plaid Cymru or the SNP is wasted - both parties contest seats that are winnable by any of the major three and have enough support to actually win in some constituencies. A seat gained by the SNP, for example, is a seat lost to Labour, Tory or Lib Dem. This fact is not lost on the big three and it helps ensure they bear in mind that Scottish/Welsh issues can't be ignored.

In Northern Ireland, however, it's a different matter. Voting is split broadly along sectarian lines and the only real changes are between the moderate and hard-line versions of unionism or republicanism/nationalism (I've never been entirely sure about the difference between those). The mainstream UK parties don't get a look in, so it's hardly worth their time crying over seats they might have won. If the electorate of Northern Ireland were ever to stop navel-gazing and sending MPs to Westminster on the basis of single-issue protest politics, then things might be different. As it is, if I lived in Belfast I don't think I'd even bother to get out of bed on May 5 for all the difference my vote would make to the UK.

And so to the Greens, UKIP, and others ... well, even the Referendum Party's promised hammering of the Tory vote turned out to matter little in the end once all the votes were cast in 1997. Unless and until our electoral system changes none of these parties stand much chance of winning anything, and with their candidates polling 500 or 1,000 votes at best, they stand little chance of even influencing the policies of the major parties who know that very few seats rest on such a slim majority that 500 votes could have swung it for them.

[philip.j.fry]

Originally Posted by Chris T

..snip..

Don't mind me I'm having a bad day/week/life

[etccarmageddon]

this will cheer you up:-

http://www.natural-law-party.org.uk/...an-General.htm

sadly these people are no longer available to vote for. the days of being able to vote for vogic flyers are long gone.

[MadGamer]

I clicked "Wont be voting" because im not 18 yet.