I've voted Lib Dem, Tory and Labour in the past.
I've had reasons for all three and reasons against all three. I don't 'support' any of them.
Currently I find myself in a position, where I find Miliband weak beyond belief, and his key members of staff just utterly clueless. Three words out of the mouth of Ed Balls and I develop the urge to punch him in the face. The party has a hell of a lot of work to do before I can see them as credible and frankly intelligent enough to run the country.
In terms of Clegg and Cameron, I see an interesting thing. I actually think both are very close in personal belief and this is pretty much the only reason why the coalition was possible in the first place. The difference is purely the party they belong to and what they have to do to appease the rest of their party. I think its better to describe both as more libertarians with slightly different approaches rather than 'liberal' or 'conservative' in the traditional sense.
The fact that the more right wing elements of the conservative party are upset and UKIP is growing is telling. Whether you believe it or not, the political position of the Conservatives is shifting and its not the same as previously and it is Cameron who is driving that. And the Lib Dems are inevitably, as they always were going to be, being swallowed up in that process.
As for all this stuff about The Nasty Party. I do find it funny given that Alistair Darling has said since the election that he thinks the all the cuts have been the right thing to do, and that people have a pop at Cameron over his admiration for Thatcher, when Brown said exactly the same thing in 2007... The truth is, that I do believe we'd be in exactly the same situation right now, regardless of who won the election. but its easy to draw on the old stereotypes and cliches to demonise the current government rather than reflect on the reality of what our options really were back in 2010 and whether we ever had a chance to choose a different direction at all anyway.
At the last election I had the luxury of being in a rare area where all three main parties had a realistic opportunity of being elected. It wasn't an easy decision, and in the end I voted tactically. From what I understand, thats what a hell of a lot of people did, rather than vote FOR a party. They tended to vote AGAINST another. It was about the lesser of all the evils available. Personally I wanted elements of both the Lib Dems and the Conservatives, but not the looney tunes at either end of the party. Amazingly I got that. And I still believe that given all the scenarios available, its was probably the best one, though still hugely flawed.
So what will I vote in the next election? Again, it'll be tactical I suspect and something I decide on the day. I fear UKIP being a realistic prospect at the next election, especially in my constituency. And that scares the life out of me.
In truth, right wing elements fucking off to UKIP, actually make the Conservatives more electable to me, but that doesn't mean I actually WANT to still vote for them.
TBH I'm hoping that there will be a rise of a bunch of independent candidates that pop up in time for the election and raise a whole bunch of issues and do some agenda setting as a result. I think people are dissatisfied enough for this to be a possibility, I think that social media means its a greater possibility to be able to run an effective campaign and this is coupled with a public desire to look for alternatives.
Heres to hoping.