Do you know anyone in real life who votes for UKIP?

[puddingsforsandy]

And if so, do you judge them?

If you're a UKIP supporter yourself, are you happy to declare it in public/at work?

I haven't yet (well I think!) meet anyone who votes for this party. Someone from FB linked something from UKIP FB page disagreeing with it. This lead me to their page. The supporters of this party come across as thick (going by the FB page)

I can't believe this is the same party that was lead by that talk show host. Silk something.

Anyway that's my opinion but my questions above still stand.
Thanks.

Maybe the fact that UKIP exists at all and appears to be gaining support suggests that there needs to be a real, less emotional debate about immigration.

Many seem to feel that uncontrolled immigration is a threat to their and others well being, no surprise that this includes black and mixed race members who are already settled here as they are often the ones who find their opportunities limited. People are afraid to voice their concerns for fear of being labelled racist but it is clear we do need to have a honest debate about resources and opportunities for those already here.

I think I do actually, an ex colleague. In touch onyl through facebook. Almost everything he posts seems fine to me (a lot of it is political/current events) but then and again he seems to have a ukip banner come up kn his feed

Yes, one of DH's friends supports UKIP. We have had a couple of heated discussions with him over dinner. He somehow 'accidentally' volunteered to stand in the local council elections this year as they didnt have enough candidates. He only realised what he had done when he saw his name in the local paper and spent the run up to the election doing absolutely nothing in the hope that he wouldnt actually get elected as he didnt want the hassle. Despite this, he managed to come in 2nd behind the Conservative, beating Labour and 2 other candidates.

DH also knows another UKIP prospective politician through work. DH challenged him on UKIP's financial and social policies and he admitted that he didnt really know about anything other than immigration.

These are the people standing as UKIP candidates. They can spout out nonsense about immigration and the cost of being in the EU but dont even know what the rest of UKIP's policies are or what the detrimental effects of pulling out of the EU would be.

It frustrates me that i hear people discuss voting UKIP as a viable alternative to the main parties without even knowing what they stand for. Political policies cover a lot more than just immigration. I am sure some of the people we know who are leaning towards voting UKIP would not be happy to receive no maternity leave or sick pay or have their tax increased to 30% whilst higher rate payers have their rate decreased.

I'm old enough to remember the last election Mrs Thatcher won and apparently no one voted for her either

I'm old enough to remember all the elections Thatcher won. The remarkable thing is that no-one voted for her in any of them, particularly 1983 onwards. I can't recall if I voted Labour or, er, something rather more excitable to their left in 1983.

I was 18 at the first Thatcher victory and I do recall one or two people admitting to having voted for her but the by the last one they were rarer than hens' teeth and that's the one that stuck in my mind.

I actually do know someone who stood for UKIP at the last election (and lost his deposit). He is slightly mad, I think. He pressed a lot of UKIP leaflets into my hot little hands once. The whole thing is barking but the current leader, Nigel Farage (?) seems to be a blokey bloke that people can relate to. It is a party with only one policy. There are bigots in there. Probably no more bigots than in the Conservative party, but less socially adept IYSWIM. It was fascinating and I argued with him for hours.

Probably no more bigots than in the Conservative party

If you ran a poll on immigration north of Watford Gap amongst Labour voters, Labour members or indeed (if it were secret enough) Labour MPs, it would make UKIP look like bleeding-heart liberals. Labour lost the last election on immigration, because it failed to make a positive case for immigration, and unless it makes a clear and positive case it will lose in 2015.

As an article in the Guardian pointed out this week, it's very difficult to make the "immigration benefits the wider economy" case to people who feel that personally it does them harm, and Labour failed totally to address issues of wages in low-skill jobs, housing and school places that arose because of immigration. Until Labour finds a way to make the case positively (which I believe is possible) then it's going to be an electoral gift to the right.

The argument Labour is trying at the moment (essentially "immigration is something we'd like to control, although we don't know how, but those pesky EU rules mean we can't") is a gift to nutters like UKIP. I'm in favour of free movement on a scale wider and deeper than current policy, and think most immigration controls are bad for the country. But being good for the country doesn't of itself make it good for individual communities, and no party has answered the question of how to make it work. At the moment, uncontrolled immigration benefits the rich and harms the poor; that's electoral suicide for Labour. Hence UKIP are winning votes straight from Labour.

The car-crash of the AV referendum was made car-crashier by the "yes" camp's realisation that the best speaker they had, with the most to gain from AV, was Farage. But make no mistake: if this country had AV, never mind PR, there would be a serious presence in parliament from UKIP. They would be stupid, boorish, ignorant racists, but attempting to pretend that their support is illegitimate is a fundamental error.

My mother .

Our sitting MP is Claire Perry I personally found her remark about the Speaker extremely funny and gutsy, and have wondered if she ever spends time here?

Unfortunately the Daily Mail decided to report it in very negative terms, so Dear Mother in her usual sheeplike manner has decided to take a scunner at her. There's no realistic chance of anyone other than the Conservatives ever getting in here though anyway.

Yes.
As a disabled person he was rather surprised when I showed him UKIP's plan for congregate communities.

FIL. I judge him and argue with him about it frequently. He has been told that if he shares his views with the DCs then he will not see them.

That happened tonight. He used a 'c' word (not cunt) in front of DS and I went mental.

At the moment, uncontrolled immigration benefits the rich and harms the poor

Can you elaborate on that? Because as far as I can see immigration benefits both rich and poor. There is a wider ethical issue on immigration. I read an article today in the Sunday Times that suggested 40% of Bulgaria's graduates are migrating. How does that help Bulgaria to develop? We are taking their best and brightest and most entrepreneurial. Good for the UK. Not so good for Bulgaria.

I wouldn't judge anybody over who they voted for. It's a personal choice and as long as it's within the law why not?

Really? Would you not form certain conclusions about people who vote BNP?

I used to work with someone who was a Parliamentary candidate for them. She was one of the most irrational people I have ever come across.

More people actually emigrate from here than immigrate.

I form conclusions about the way people vote. Broadly my conclusions go like this:

People who vote Labour = economic imbeciles who will bankrupt us again given half a chance
People who vote Conservative = bigots
People who vote UKIP = more bigots
People who vote BNP = extreme bigots

Can you see why I don't vote? The way politics works in this country is like a set menu option. With Labour, I have to pass the massive bill on to the next generation (my children). With the Tories, I get to pay a smaller bill myself but I have to be nasty to just about everyone. There are no realistic alternatives because we have a two party system.

More people actually emigrate from here than immigrate.

Untrue, see ONS Statistics

"There was a net flow of 182,000 long-term migrants to the UK in the year ending June 2013, the first annual increase for two years. However, this is not a statistically significant difference from the 167,000 in the year ending June 2012."

UKIP are foul bigots. But it doesn't help to fight them with untruths.

LibDem - lying quisling fucks, content to act as fluffers for the nasty party.

Yup. My mom and dad both do. I don't judge. As disagreeable as it may be to me, from the area they live in, I can kind if see why they would.

ArgumentsatChristmas, good post. People criticising one group for voting for morons whilst they themselves vote for another bunch of morons is always hilariously ironic. You should have mentioned the lib dems though, God knows what appeal they have to anyone, especially now.

I rathwr suspect my father votes ukip. Also someone I went to to university with. He's a right odd bod though, he's a freemason too. I imagine freemasonry (the Mafia of the mediocre) and ukipping are close bedfellows.

I don't know anyone who openly admits to voting UKIP. If I did know anyone, then yes, I would judge.

I do know someone who supports the BNP. :(

Those of you who know UKIP voters, would you ask them why they want to lock my children away, please. Thanks.

Yes to the OP. I am quite fed up with everyone's opinion becoming labelled. If you don't agree with people who come to the uk as health tourists, you are racist, if you don't agree to open borders you are immediately racist and xenophobic. Don't believe in gay people marrying, you are a homophobe. If you disagree with vegetarianism, you are veganist. Fat people, fattist and the list goes on. I don't have much of an opinion on any of the above but if I did, I would like to be able to voice them.

You are simply not allowed to think or have an opinion on anything anymore it seems. I am terribly fed up with this and rather like Nigel as he is a bit more characteristic than any of the bloody boring mob who are attempting to get my vote. I think this is why an awful huge amount of people will vote Ukip at the next election.

Why does Ukip want to lock your children away?