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Tactical Voting in the Election
- Thread starter nicko31
- Start date
beorhthelm
A. Virgo, Football Genius
- Jul 21, 2003
- 36,015
it isnt really. if you have AV, PR whatever, if you still have system of local representatives you still end up with some people represented by a MP they "didnt vote for". worse you can end up with party lists so a group of favoured politicians remain at the top, no Portillio or Balls moments.
tactical voting is the product of people a) not staying with their principles and b) lack of diversity in political parties due to over focus on national issues. i wonder if enough people voted for their favoured candidate, and candidates shifted to personal manifestos/local issues, how safe many safe seats would be.
nickbrighton
Well-known member
- Feb 19, 2016
- 2,130
based on the whole trident issue for one, he is VP of a CNDwhich campaigns to get rid of trident, nato, nuclear power, he will include trident in defence review, so if that's the case its not guaranteed he will keep it. His fully funded manifesto conveniently leaves out the cost of buying back Water, Mail and Electric, his no tax rises for ordinary people is patently bo**ocks, as there is no way he can pay for all his free everything for everyone from just taxing the 5% who already pay 30% off ALL income tax. You think leaving Abbot as one of the main spokespeople for the campaign wasn't inept? it was obvious from the start she was a liability. Removing her 24 hours before the polls open looks like a crass hail Mary move -whatever the reasons. Corbyn has performed well I will agree, and much better than nearly everyone thought,(even if i don't like him personally) but the rest of the party(along with the Torys) has been a shambles, and both he and May have had some awful interviews.
Labour have some great policies- they just have some awful ones, and I am more than prepared to vote for a Labour government if and when they present a coherent, viable alternative. We need a good, strong opposition, we wont get one
Paul Reids Sock
Well-known member
When considering who to vote for I look at the results in the most recent election in my constituency. Last time out Conservatives got 63% and I think it was UKIP 2nd on 15%.
This time round we also have an independent on the cards. However when you look deeper he is the previous UKIP candidate and we have another new one!
As such i don;t think my vote will count for much either way but I will cast it anyway
This time round we also have an independent on the cards. However when you look deeper he is the previous UKIP candidate and we have another new one!
As such i don;t think my vote will count for much either way but I will cast it anyway
Stato
Well-known member
- Dec 21, 2011
- 7,367
I think that tactical voting is a misnomer. Our political system means that none of us are voting for a party, nor for someone to be prime minister. We are voting for an individual to represent our constituency. None of us will agree with our preferred individual on all issues, regardless of party affiliation. We are all compromising to some extent and the willingness to vote for a next best option is a decision based on compromise.
As a Labour supporter in a constituency that Labour won't win, I could choose to look at the long term and vote for the person whose views are closest to mine in the hope that increased levels of support for the party in the constituency will eventually make them competitive. I did this at the last election. Alternatively, I could make a greater compromise and vote for the person whose views are the next closest to mine, knowing that this could lead to more of my views being represented. I'll do that this time.
Of course, my change in approach is in no way guided by the fact that my compromise choice this time round is not a smug conspiracy theorist who helped shore up a disgusting self-serving administration and did his absolute best to stop my football club from building a stadium in its home city.
As a Labour supporter in a constituency that Labour won't win, I could choose to look at the long term and vote for the person whose views are closest to mine in the hope that increased levels of support for the party in the constituency will eventually make them competitive. I did this at the last election. Alternatively, I could make a greater compromise and vote for the person whose views are the next closest to mine, knowing that this could lead to more of my views being represented. I'll do that this time.
Of course, my change in approach is in no way guided by the fact that my compromise choice this time round is not a smug conspiracy theorist who helped shore up a disgusting self-serving administration and did his absolute best to stop my football club from building a stadium in its home city.
I'm really not arguing for any specific voting system here. My comment was merely that tactical voting IS a direct product of the current one.
ManOfSussex
We wunt be druv
I've also got to vote proxy tomorrow in Bexhill & Battle, which although it wont make a jot of difference there, will also be a tactical vote as I've been instructed, in this case Lib Dem.
I read a little while back the Bexhill & Battle MP Hew Merriman was against tactical voting, so if it annoys him and other Tories, that's a good enough reason to do it as well, in my book.
I read a little while back the Bexhill & Battle MP Hew Merriman was against tactical voting, so if it annoys him and other Tories, that's a good enough reason to do it as well, in my book.
The Large One
Who's Next?
You're right to a point. Some people vote for a candidate, some for a party, some for the leader (more true in General Elections, less so in council elections). Any AV / PR single vote system wouldn't cater for that. You'd need to have a multi-vote - one for 'party', another for 'candidate within that party' for a truer democracy. That way chaos, tedium and ennui lies.
As for people not staying with their principles - mostly, yes but that principle may be a 'negative', i.e. voting for someone to keep Candidate A out, rather than specifically wanting Candidate B in. No electoral system can really challenge or diminish that attitude.
KingKev
Well-known member
No but revelling in being able to cast a meaningful vote for only the 3rd time and being able to vote both anti-Tory and for a great MP in Kyle.
Previously resided in some of the safest seats in the country - Horsham, one in Liverpool and Ken Clarke's seat in Notts.
I would absolutely vote tactically if I had the chance, btw.
Previously resided in some of the safest seats in the country - Horsham, one in Liverpool and Ken Clarke's seat in Notts.
I would absolutely vote tactically if I had the chance, btw.
Which we, the people, overwhelmingly voted in a democratic referendum, to keep. That is, of course, not the only referendum we've had in recent years, and it is absolutely essential that when the public makes a democratic decision through a referendum that the decision is carried out. Anything else is a travesty of democracy. So that is why, as a labour voter by life-time inclination, I will be tactically voting Tory, to protect Brexit.
Any sort of anti-Tory coalition would comprise 100% Europhiles, hell bent on overturning the result of the referendum. Even if Labour win outright, while I believe Corbyn would implement Brexit - or try to - the PLP is solidly pro-Euro, and it wouldn't take long for them to link up with Lib. Dems. and the SDP to sabotage Corbyn's negotiations. It would probably then provide the opportunity they would love, to oust Corbyn and replace him with a nice house trained, politically correct, Westminster Europhile socialist. Another un-elected PM...........who would then have to 'negotiate' a deal to reverse Article 50 - and believe me, that is never going to be a good deal.
So sorry to all those who I might offend, but I am one Labourite who will be reluctantly voting Tory, hopefully just this once, until we are safely and irrevocably out of the EU.
Yoda
English & European
Voted yes but not much point:
In Worthing West, the tactical advice is to vote for Labour.
But don't get your hopes up. The combined vote of Labour, Lib Dem and the Greens would not have been enough in 2015 to beat the Conservatives.
2015 result
26,124 Conservative
15,370 Lab + Lib Dem + Green
In Worthing West, the tactical advice is to vote for Labour.
But don't get your hopes up. The combined vote of Labour, Lib Dem and the Greens would not have been enough in 2015 to beat the Conservatives.
2015 result
26,124 Conservative
15,370 Lab + Lib Dem + Green
This, but in Eastleigh, where we are hoping to OUST the ridiculously-named MIMMS Davies.
Hopefully Mike Thornton will get back in there. He was a mate of mine 20 years ago, and sat next to me at work when I worked in Eastleigh - decent bloke, very principled and reasonably local (he is playing on that, but in reality he's from Winchester, not Eastleligh).
Super Steve Earle
Well-known member
Tactical voting strikes me as a way for the noisy minority to distort the democratic wishes of the majority. I hate that sort of thing. When Labour appealed sufficiently to the majority, they won elections. Now it's the Tories turn again, they cry foul and start whinging about the unfairness of the system. Anyone voting Labour also now has to submit to the possibility of them sharing power with Nicola Sturgeon should the unexpected occur.
The Large One
Who's Next?
And that's where you and I part. There is no need for Trident - it's a pathetic £200bn willy-waving exercise from a country which will have very little influence in the world, post-Brexit. It doesn't protect us against terrorists, and if we need to use it, it's for neither defence nor deterrent.
Who said anything about 'buying back' utilities? The government will simply set up its own water, mail and electric etc. suppliers, offering cheaper tariffs, and compete with the current companies. Here's one way of looking at it. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ioan-marc-jones/can-britain-afford-to-nationalise_b_8006458.html
You're right about Diane Abbott, mind.
Shropshire Seagull
Well-known member
Have you ever seen a Turkey vote for Christmas?
Cowfold Seagull
Fan of the 17 bus
Mims, short for Miriam, how frightfully upper middle class, blue rinse, right wing, Conservative.
The Large One
Who's Next?
Prinicipally because the proposed alternative had such little credibility, presented poorly. They voted against ATV, not necessarily for FPTP.
I think you've read that entirely wrong.
Corbyn's stance on the EU will be to negotiate the retention of as many benefits as we currently enjoy to the point that we will be EU members in all but name. That way, we get the benefits of being in the EU while the Brexiteers get their wish also. (Except for the 'hard Brexiteers' who are living in La La Land.)
Theresa May, incidentally, is hopelessly out of her depth on domestic and international issues - as she has already proved. And she leads a parliamentary party which is still pro-EU.
Cowfold Seagull
Fan of the 17 bus
Quite so. But that doesn't mean it doesn't need to change!