To wonder why if the tories are so unpopular, they always get in?

[maggiethemagpie]

Are there a lot of secret Tory voters who won't admit it? They have won most elections since the second world war, so they must be doing something right (in terms of appealing to the electorate to continuously vote for them) yet I see a lot of Tory bashing threads on here and I don't know anyone in my own life who'd admit to voting Tory.

I'm not particularly a leftie, I'm a centrist if anything and believe a balance of left and right leaning politics is optimal, but it seems like it is very 'right on' to admit to a socialist view and wanting to do more for society's vulnerable or poor, but to admit to admiring conservative views is not acceptable. You hear of 'Tory Scum' but never 'Labour Scum'.

So who are all these people voting for the conservatives? Because they always seem to get in, and the Blair years when they did not, people say Blair was a red Tory anyway!

Or are people just afraid to admit what their political views are if it does not sound socially acceptable?

Can't say I'm either proud or ashamed of the way I vote.

They won't come back to tell you. Lots of posters have said they are proud to vote Tory but have not come back to articulate what exactly they are proud of

Probably because there are a number of posters on here circling round ready to give them a good old pasting!

MissM I agree. To me Labour are somewhat unelectable at the moment and I thought that before Brexit TBH. I'm a floating voter but the vitriol to anyone who dared to say they voted tory after the GE was awful. And yet here is a thread asking why! That is why.

I often avoid disclosing my left leaning politics after being hurled abuse at when I was younger by some one I considered to be a friend when I was trying to engage in friendly debate.
Historically, a woman in our street (who I secretly call 'The Margaret Thatcher of {name of our} road' as she arranges candlelit suppers for the neighbours with our local MP and is always at the polling station with her blue rosette at elections doing the exit polls) has been very chatty to me.
She struggled a little when I moved my lesbian partner in to my house but she was still relatively civil. However since my eldest son put a 'Vote Labour' sign in our front window at the last election she has completely blanked me - even when we crossed paths walking our respective dogs in an empty field behind our houses. I said "Hello (name of neighbour)" and she walked straight past her eyes fixedly straight ahead. I laughed. Seemed funny that she could just about bear my sexual orientation but my left leaning politics was just a step too far.
Her husband also put nails under the wheels of a young woman's car who had parked quite legitimately in our wide non busy road outside his house

First past the post - it's been mentioned already, but the fact is we can have majority governments on minority votes. For the benefit of an earlier poster - that applies to those who voted without considering those who didn't bother.

We need PR and we need to use modern technology for voting.

In my earlier careers in insurance, estate agency and later computer software, anyone non-Tory was seen (and often described) as enemy scum. I've had to keep quiet for years, the vilification doesn't all come from one side.

I'm proud that:

the PM isn't a war criminal, unlike Blair

the Chancellor hasn't sold off our gold reserves at rock bottom prices, unlike Brown.

the Conservatives have never left a note to the next government to the effect that there's no money left, having been squandered by Labour.

they have more control of the country's finances than labour will ever have, even in their dreams.

they have given us a referendum to leave the sinking EU.

I could go on but don't want to bore you

we need to use modern technology for voting

What had you in mind and how will you guarantee secrecy?

Machines worked so well in Florida in 2000, didn't they? Ballot papers, marked by hand, counted by hand, work, and they work quickly. ldet's not have technology for technology's sake!

Rorty mm, but then they've also slashed disability benefits and pushed scores of families towards needing to use food banks.

But, y'know, as long as we've got an EU referendum out of it it's all ok

I was also going to query Louisa's patronising historical rewrite regarding which period exactly "at one point-only women, lunatics and prisoners were not allowed to vote" refers to, when the 1918 representation of the people act enfranchised 5 million men in addition to 8 million women but jazzier git there before me.

Re the topic at hand: you might not hear "labour scum" but you def hear terms like "bleeding heart liberals" etc

Also agree with those saying you not knowing anyone voting Tory has more to do with self reflecting groups rather than shame - similarly my fb was almost entirely remain voters so. I was very shocked at Brexit - but then the majority of my fb friends are if similar ages and backgrounds tonne so not surprising our political viewpoints are similar

Rorty, sorry but I have very little respect for the opinion of anyone who lists the referendum as a reason to be proud. Its an utter fucking shambles.

And nothing you have listed there relates to their actual time in government. You know, like their policies.

I'm proud that:

the PM isn't a war criminal, unlike Blair

Im pretty sure Labour voters wouldnt have had the ability to time travel forwards in 1997 so they could have known what was going to happen and voted accordingly after time travelling back to 97

The Leave voters however have no excuse There have been plenty of warnings of this outcome.

By the way, don't know if it has been mentioned anywhere but i read today that if the referendum had been done on a FPTP constituency basis Leave would have won by 430 seats to 210 seats (give or take).

Pretty emphatic.

Wow, that really shows how skewed FPTP can make things.

Personally I don't see or hear of any Tory hate. I don't vote Tory because too many things in their manifesto are deal breakers for me. I assume most people vote for them because they make comments which are sometimes controversial but do carry them through, whereas labour feel more softly softly.

As I said too many things they pursue are deal breakers for me. But they do seem to be the more radical which I do think has its place.

I thought Tony Blair got voted back in as PM after the Iraq War. So seems odd that everyone is so critical now.

Nobody ever went bankrupt betting on the stupidity of the electorate, MissMargie. Democracy is only the least worst.

helpfulchap, have you got a link for that about the referendum and FPTP? That's incredible.

Labour is the 'sit on your arse' party; Tory is the 'get off your arse' party. People don't admit to voting Tory because they cannot be bothered to deal with the comments from the lazy who have all the time in the world to whinge about it because they sit around being supported by the tax payer.

We've been talking about this again in the office today and the agreement that was met was " the Tory party in a way offer stability, a better the devil you know. Labour led the UK to war and have a shocking history with the economy."

One of the reasons I prefer the public sector is that political talk is frowned on. There's only one colleague whose vote last month I know and one (not the same one) whose vote at election time I know. Which is as it should be; we have to work with each other.

How does that explain working Labour voters Pseudonym99?

I think some people are more generous and have more empathy than others. Saying that, I do know one lovely person who votes Tory. Many of the others spout nonsense like you posted (although not sure if yours was tongue in cheek).

Pseudonym99, seriously, that is the best you can come up with? Unless of course you were being ironic. I have heard a lot of people stating they are "proud of voting Tory", none have yet come up with reasons why they are so.

Come on, can't be that hard can it?

How does that explain working Labour voters Pseudonym99?

Or indeed retired or living-off-inherited-wealth Tories?

The Tories don't always get in - its just that people saw David Cameron as the leader they thought was the better option because he seemed more of a statesman than Ed Miliband. (Not me!) with him gone who knows. And Labour need to get their act together.

The swing voters are the ones who affect the outcome of an election.