If UKIP are so terrible, why did they win so much?

[balloondoggy]

I didn't vote UKIP - I voted for my local Christians. However, if I were to purely read the comments on Mumsnet and the comments on Facebook re UKIP, I would have thought they would come last; yet they didn't. Why? Are there so many of us on here that are so different from (clearly) the majority?

[NoArmaniNoPunani]

The majority didn't vote, sadly :(

[Philoslothy]

They are not a majority. Round here they are the 40% of the 40% that voted.

[gatofeliz]

I think those who voted UKIP who come on Mumsnet dont announce their voting choice on here!

[Wantsunshine]

I don't think many on mumsnet would say they have voted UKIP as from the posts I have seen they then just get called uneducated and stupid. Most seem to vote Greens here it would seem.

[PersonalClown]

Because half of the morons on my Facebook (and that includes my family) are 'not racist but' and that they didn't read the manifesto/views beyond the whole EU/forriners angle.

[Smartiepants79]

I have been thinking something very similar.
I know absolutely no one who would vote for them.
I can't see where all the support comes from.
My mum reckons people have used them as a protest vote.
It has actually quite scared me. They are loons. The last month has been a catalog of cock ups.
My mum also thinks that they'd be nothing without Farage. A lot to be said for a charismatic leader.

[MuttonCadet]

I can't understand it, all it takes for evil to win out is for good people to do nothing. Not enough people voted....

One of the Yorkshire and hum reside UKIP MEPs is being investigated for employing illegal immigrants, which is not just illegal, it's also exploitative.

[SpittinFevvers]

I know absolutely no one who would vote for them.

I bet you do - they're just keeping it to themselves

[MuttonCadet]

Oh, and you think UKIP are scary, you should see what the rest of Europe are voting in......... In France it's the equivalent of the BNP

[caroldecker]

You can't assume all the non-voters are the same as you - no reason the non-voters choices would be any different from the voters.

[KeepingUpAnon]

Because UKIP are clever.

They have just as many valid, 'good-idea' policies as they do horrific ones. They haven't gone 'too far' like the BNP did, which was their downfall. So many people who would have liked to vote BNP but were put off by the sheer ridiculousness of some of their policies can now vote UKIP without the guilt.

IMO.

[KeepingUpAnon]

I know absolutely no one who would vote for them.

I bet you do - they're just keeping it to themselves

THIS. IF I was going to vote UKIP, i'd not be bandying it around my nearest and dearest.

[Dysfunctional]

I know someone who voted for them and is quite open about it.

At my European election most of the candidates seem to be on the anti-europe bandwagon. They seem personally happy to go and work in Europe and take the massive salary/expenses benefits though.

I find this all a bit odd and the fact that Farage votes No to anything even policies you'd think he would support that would benefit the uk (just so he can be a thorn in the side)- Hmm very productive use of your massive salary

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I think keepingupanon has part of the answer. If you look at their manifesto, on the face of it some of the ideas seem ok and very designed to be populist. The more extreme ideas are couched in gentle language that if people don't think about it too hard then they might seem not too harmful. I think UKIP have been very clever this election.

Oh and if people don't vote then they are letting these groups in, people with more extreme views are less likely to give up their vote.

[tabulahrasa]

There's been a few UKIP voters on here...it seems to be all about immigration and the EU or just a protest against the government.

I've tried asking if they're ok with things like the sexist and disablist stuff in their last manifesto, the paying money to queue jump in the NHS, the flat tax rate...it's either all media lies (even though it's all been published by UKIP themselves) or they haven't set official policies yet, so they don't count as what they're voting for.

So I genuinely can't work out if UKIP voters agree with UKIP views on other matters, they disagree but don't care enough about the other issues to use another way to register an anti EU, immigration and government protest...or if they just don't believe that UKIP have the views that they say they have.

[longfingernails]

I voted UKIP. My vote was to make Cameron tack to the right; he is essentially a 'wet'. He isn't tough enough on non-skilled immigration; he wants to fritter away money we don't have on international aid so he can slap backs at Davos; and fundamentally, he doesn't stand for the working class Tories who were Maggie's natural people. I hope that he will realise that no political party, even one with as glorious a history as the Conservatives, has a divine right to exist.

UKIP aren't going to get a position of serious power any time soon; the way to use them to get influence is by forcing the other parties in their direction.

[morethanpotatoprints]

They are very popular here in many parts of the NW, people, especially the young see them as the best party for them.
I hear them complaining about too many forriners and lack of jobs and they blame Britain for being in the EU. They are looking for a party to stop the influx and coming out of the EU is the way forward for them, so it appears.
My dsx2 friends all voted UKIP and their peers on fb all said the same.
So unless you educate/stop the 18 - 24's from voting there's not much you can do about it.
No, I didn't vote for them, or anybody, neither did dh or dsx2

[TheThreeCheesesOfTheApocalypse]

Because people are dim. And do stupid things without thinking it through.

Ask the average UKIP voter to list tge parties policys abd 99% of them will only be able to churn out twaddle about immigration.........personally I think something needs to be done about the many people who come over with no job lined up or any means of supporting themself (( unless being persecuted etc )) but UKIP is not the answer.

I have no issue with people coming here to work, they arent 'stealing jobs'. If Brits were so desperate to do them they wouldnt be there to steal in the first place !!!

[PleaseJustShootMeNow]

My mum voted UKIP. She hates UKIP and all they stand for. The problem is she currently hates the other 3 parties more and thinks voting UKIP is like giving them the finger. She told me there's not a cat in hell's chance she would have voted for them if she thought there was a chance they might get in. Bizarre thinking and we've had words over it.

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726]

It's bad manners to ask people who they are voting for. It goes with out saying that the vitriol, spitting and ridicule that ensues on MN should somebody post with an unpopular choice. It changes nothing other than perhaps to make somebody undecided vote for the derided party, either in the hope that the 'protest vote' will make no difference, or out of pique at being insulted. Way to go... be proud!

What I would really like to see at voting time is a list of the parties, a précis of their policies and educated and valid reasoning of each manifesto. Not the rabid ranting threads, which should be immediately deleted the minute they land.

[RazzleDazzleEm]

I do not think UKIP even want to take power in UK they simply want out of Europe and thats it.

[RazzleDazzleEm]

Ask the average UKIP voter to list tge parties policys abd 99% of them will only be able to churn out twaddle about immigration.........personally I think something needs to be done about the many people who come over with no job lined up or any means of supporting themself (( unless being persecuted etc )) but UKIP is not the answer

Strange self contradictory post there, well non of the other parties are even going to think about immigration at all......

[AuntieStella]

A lot of people didn't vote at all, but if those who care enough to vote even in non-Westminster elections, there is a big swing to them. Now, when the big swing was to the (pre-Coalition) Lib Dems there was a big chorus of how unfair it was that a party with that much general support could not gain Westminster representation.

Would those who were arguing that then, claiming it was a matter of principal, be arguing just as vigorously now?

The element of fashionability is often overlooked. It is fashionable to deride the right wing. These results will make a difference if it brings a realisation that the fashion has changed and it's OK to be on the right as you're clearly not alone in leaning that way.

There are by elections coming up. If UKIP are elected, or near-miss with a big swing, then they will look far more electable in first-past-the-post elections. The LibDems made only a small amount of progress, but they did not have the newer factor of widespread disenchantment with the both the two main parties. With the Tory ecomonic plan having its intended effect in the right timeframe in some policy areas, and with Labour lacking credibility as both Opposition and potential Government, there is more scope for the right wing to do well.

Farage is already talking about target seats (those which returned UKIP councillors and big EU swings). That is a strategy which could do well.

[Eebahgum]

Ukip will keep getting votes as long as people keep churning out the "just a bunch of racists" idea. I don't think all the people who vote for them are necessarily racist but there reasons that people choose them over other political parties - probably not too far removed from the reasons why people choose not to vote. The other parties need to figure out what those reasons are and do something to tackle it if they want to win back seats. And they need to start publicising and shouting down their crappy policies instead of keeping pulling out the ineffective racist argument.

[ifink]

Remember how loads of people said 'I didn't and don't know ANYONE who voted for Tony Blair/George Bush/David Cameron' .....same thing, but someone must have