Lunch time poll: Voting Dilema

[cdave]

In my local seat the two parties who most stand a chance of winning there have:

• A rebellious incumbent MP who votes against his party (usually in the direction I'd want), but whose party I don't want in power.
• A local councillor for the party I'd like to see in, who doesn't really impress me with his literature, and website (and hasn't replied to an

Comments

[offensive_mango]

You say "chance of winning." I say vote for whomever you prefer, based on their own personal voting behavior, whether they have a chance of winning or not.

[cdave]

I just meant that I don't have to take "tactical voting" into account.

I've always voted positivly, and hope to do so, but can imagine voting for X as it'd be better then Y (who stands a chance), and Z (who I like) don't stand a hope here. But I'd have to really really not like Y to do that. I mean on a Y = BNP type level.

[offensive_mango]

Sure, but my take on it is that if Z is genuinely your favorite candidate, you should vote for Z regardless of who does or doesn't stand a chance. I think the political system in this country is stagnant precisely because people take other people's behavior (non-politicians, I mean) into account when deciding on their own personal vote.

The Lib Dems are doing well in the polls because suddenly it's ok for people to say "actually, yeah, I support their policies, not that I ever would have voted for them because they wouldn't have had a chance." Well of course they wouldn't if nobody who supported them would vote for them because of perceived potential.

This is not directed toward you; I just find it all maddening. Also I find the fact that people talk about who they vote for maddening. Having said that, it seems to be moving that way in the States too. Life was better when your vote was secret but you talked about your salary, rather than the other way around.

[cdave]

I agree tactical voting is annoying.

I do try not to say how I've voted, and certainly consciously avoid putting pressure on anyone to say how they voted.

But it's hard not to talk about politics for more that a few minutes without getting an idea of people's political leanings, and likely voting patterns.

[jon_a_five]

I'm in this exact position too! I decided to vote for Stella, the Labour candidate and just hope the Lib Dems win overall.

[makyo]

I'd be inclined to vote for the rebellious incumbent MP with a track record of independent thought and doing mostly what you'd like him to, rather than the lacklustre candidate who can't reply to email and just happens to be a member of the party you like.

[cdave]

Thanks. Nice way of putting it.

[cdave]

And to be fair to the poor chap, I didn't just ask why I should vote for him. I asked if he would have attended Wash Up, and disobeyed the whip if they hadn't withdrawn it.

[matgb]

For added bonus fairness to whoever

[coth]

I test my local votes against my national priorities. Nationally, even another Labour government is preferable to a Tory one, so I will vote Labour rather than let a Tory in. Choice is easy as I live in a Labour safe seat (9,000 majority over Conservatives last time), and there isn't a LibDem candidate. A different candidate might tempt me to vote Green, but the candidate is personally flaky. (My only other option is UKIP, and Paul Wiffen is bad news even by UKIP standards).

(Besides, I like my local Labour MP, despite disagreeing with him on a number of political issues.)

Locally, my past and prospective Labour local councillors have ranged from ok to impressive, and neither LibDems nor Tories impress at all. And I have no minority party candidates.

Why do I get the impression that people are not politically active in this constituency and ward?

[cdave]

People are, I suspect, not terribly politically active all over. I'd not like to guess what percentage of voters wouldn't recognize any candidate's name, including the incumbent.

Personally, I'm idealistic enough to vote for a way that would let most parties I didn't like in, but I recognize the pragmatism.

[dougs]

My own existing MP, who represents my party-of-choice in a very safe seat, is standing down. None of the candidates this time round, including the new candidate for my party-of-choice, have made any particular effort to persuade me of anything at all, and none of them are people I've met or have heard of.

So while I've ticked "Candidate", above, I'll probably end up voting for the party.

[cdave]

I doubt I know the name of anyone beside myself and my flat mate who live in my constituency. The perils of living in a small London constituency and socialising largely outside of it.

[drplokta]

You certainly know the names of some more people who live in your constituency, although you may not know that they do live in your constituency. There are enough celebrities living in London that every constituency must have several.

[cdave]

Well I do live in one of the smallest constituency's in the country "characterised by Council accommodation, and Students", and the celebs tend to live a few tens of meters north in the trendier Crouch End, but a good point.

I meant I don't really have any sense of local community, so I'm not actually voting on a "local" MP. I'm voting on local candidate for the national seat.