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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to not understand why "normal" people vote Tory?

999 replies

olddogsnewtricks · 18/04/2017 15:37

OK, so I'll probably get flamed for this but am genuinely interested! All the people I know who vote Tory are pretty well off so use private schools and healthcare. As a family we need the NHS and we need a good education system - and I can't see them getting any better under the Tories. Are these just not priorities for Tory voters or do they really believe they will improve even with a Conservative government?

OP posts:
mummymeister · 18/04/2017 16:20

I don't agree with many of the policies that the torys have in relation to the NHS and education. However, when I choose a party to vote for I don't do it on a single issue. I look at lots of issues and weigh them up. Do you seriously think that the Corbynistas will do better by education and the NHS. everyone moans about the brexit battle bus figure but corbyn keeps spending and respending the money saved from trident.

Like most people I would prefer a pick and mix of policies from across the political spectrum. I have some views that you would call left wing and some right.

I am very pro-brexit - no not a numpty who read the papers and believed them - but someone who understood the issues and this is where I stand on it.

Its not a clear cut black and white issue it never is. you look at the overall balance and vote for the one with the most yes's. very few people have a red line issue

WallToWallBastards · 18/04/2017 16:20

There's nothing wrong with changing your political views but if they sit ranting and raving about the cuts that affect them then I have to question their understanding of what they're voting for.

MycatsaPirate · 18/04/2017 16:20

I do think that 'some' Tory voters are of the mindset that they are voting for a party who represents hard workers who claim no benefits. Then were really surprised when they lost child benefit as it's not actually a benefit.

I have seen an awful lot of 'why should someone get something when I don't' type comments over the years on various forums. It all boils down to money. What you have, what you want, what others get and what you don't get and think you should.

I have never voted Tory and never would. I am disabled. It would be the equivalent of just throwing myself off a cliff.

PlayOnWurtz · 18/04/2017 16:20

For me it's education - pro grammar schools and it's small government. Nothing complex.

I hate that all the left do is sneer and judge and bitch and whinge and whine and feel they're more superior. It makes me (and others) switch off and it's what loses labour votes.

OatcakeCravings · 18/04/2017 16:20

OP, I'm with you, I don't understand it either.

rosie1959 · 18/04/2017 16:21

Totally agree with Woolythoughts
I have never trusted labour with the economy

ChaiTeaTaiChi · 18/04/2017 16:21

How totally RUDE

oh wah wah wah! You vote for people that deliberately ruin lives and make the worst possible decisions, you're not really in a position to complain about people being rude about it¬!

InfiniteSheldon · 18/04/2017 16:21

Education and health care are a priority me and they suffered badly under Labour's mismanagement. Under Labour I was trapped by Working family tax credit, EMA and a raft of complicated 'benefits' that meant 16hours a week was my limit for working. AND I was consistently worse off as a working single parent than any of my non working friends. I believe Labour intervenes too much and keeps on trying to tweak and change and the ensuing nanny state stifles those of us JAMs with a work ethic. If the 'avoiding answers' jibe was aimed at me btw I've been at work sorry for not answering you straight away and well done for illustrating perfectly why I try not to engage with predjudiced, blinkered Labour voters Biscuit

Cartman03 · 18/04/2017 16:22

I think a lot of people think the Tories are 'better' ie more prudent at managing the economy whereas Labour have a bit of a history of spending like they own a money tree.

The NHS is collapsing because it is being asked to do things it was not set up to do. Both parties have given it shedloads of cash but it is a black hole: inefficient, not enough nurses, poor purchasing policies, crap and fragmented IT, driven by targets rather than standards of care. Neither party has the guts to suggest that we should start asking for payments towards the NHS.

I think the reason politics has gathered around the centre ground is that the 'upper classes' are rich enough to hide their wealth and the poorest in our society don't pay much tax. Then there is a big tranche of high income earners who pay all the tax but don't earn enough to pay to avoid tax. You can't piss that group off as they are the backbone of the tax system, since neither party will go after corporations with any conviction. This group encompasses lots of professional people who can afford to move if you make it unpleasant for them at home. I suspect many of these people vote Tory for the simple reason that the Tories promise lower taxation.

I also suspect that many people would happily pay more tax if it was ring-fenced: money for cancer services, money to rebuild the stock of social housing. Not money to hire loads more civil servants.

PenguinsAreAce · 18/04/2017 16:22

I voted Tory once at age 18 because the Labour party were about to abolish the assisted place scheme from which I had just benefitted massively for the previous 7 years. I have never done it since and never would. I had little understanding of any broader social issues frankly. So yes, politically ignorant.

TinselTwins · 18/04/2017 16:22

There are very good reasons for not voting labour (I may vote labour reluctantly, not sure yet) and they're not all "anti Corbyn")

IMO labour has in the past played good cop and set up a lot of bad things that we "Credit" the Torys with! I don't trust them at all.
I think Corbyn is honest and has some integrity, but too much maybe because he seems to refuse play politics on principle which is stupid because that's the job and it's almost like he's on permanant strike IYKWIM, so while I "trust" him (but not other labour bods), I do not like him one bit (I'ld like him as an academic, but not as a politician)

I'ld give lib dem a bash if they stood a chance. They don't where I live.

Anon1234567890 · 18/04/2017 16:22

MN is such an echo chamber.

The attitude here seems to be you can only imagine voting for a party that would make you better off. Isn't that very selfish? I vote Tory at a national level because I want the country to be better off. It might decrease my benefits, but I would rather know my country has a nuclear deterrent, that someone is trying to cut the national debt so my grandchildren will have a better tomorrow. That if I ever pay off my mortgage my children will get my house and not the tax man. That our country has the railways and airports my children will need. That the standard of education is improved instead of everyone being dragged down to average. That we are tough on terrorists and criminals. I certainly dont see any alternative in a JC Labour that would just plunge the country into more borrowing and destroy out children's future. And I certainly dont believe the lies that the Tories all want to sell the NHS off.

I consider my self a 'normal' person.

kirstxx · 18/04/2017 16:23

needsahalo

Exactly what I was thinking. Take it from someone who works for the NHS, it is in absolute crisis!

Original poster
olddogsnewtricks · 18/04/2017 16:24

why I try not to engage with predjudiced, blinkered Labour voters

I am not blinkered or a Labour voter. Biscuit

OP posts:
carefreeeee · 18/04/2017 16:24

I have been wondering the same thing.

I think a lot of people don't know what the tories stand for. Either that or they are rich themselves.

Like that man who was in the news last week with terminal cancer, moaning that the tories had reduced the widowed parents allowance and his family would be worse off as a result. He said he had voted tory at the last election. Did he (a) not realise the tories are cutting benefits and services, or (b) not think he would ever need benefits and not give a shit about those who do?

Those who are saying they have to vote Tory because labour are no threat, well the only way a party get to be a threat is if they are elected - it's easy to make labour a threat - vote for them!

I also think the voting system makes it much worse. Most places are safe seats and only a few constituencies get to decide who will win.

Devilishpyjamas · 18/04/2017 16:25

Political ignorance - particularly in not understanding just how bad Tory policies are for the most vulnerable.

PenguinsAreAce · 18/04/2017 16:25

"if they sit ranting and raving about the cuts that affect them then I have to question their understanding of what they're voting for."

Like Cornwall/farmers/those who believed the NHS slogan on the bus* and Brexit?

*delete as appropriate or insert other group that thought it a good idea but will end up worse off.

Devilishpyjamas · 18/04/2017 16:25

And yes we really need PR.

NameChanger22 · 18/04/2017 16:26

I blame the right wing press. We underestimate how much people brainwashed, I mean influenced. Nobody is immune.

Devilishpyjamas · 18/04/2017 16:26

Yeah - turkeys voting for Christmas.

I am interested to see which way Cornwall swings this time round. It seems some of the farmers have worken up to what Brexit actually means....

nothercupoftea · 18/04/2017 16:27

I am working class, can afford neither private health care nor private school. Does that make me "normal"?

I vote Tory because I strongly believe that labour is A LOT worst, and disagree with most of their ideas. Whilst Tory might not present a dream ideology, I think they are the "least bad" of the lot.

I also read the Daily Mail online because I find it more entertaining than OK or Hello.

Do you want to shoot me now?

PlayOnWurtz · 18/04/2017 16:27

The Tories would still be in power with an even larger majority with PR. In fact under PR UKIP would have had significantly more MPs. At the last election 52% of the voting population voted right of centre.

moomin4071 · 18/04/2017 16:28

As others have said, freedom of choice!!!
I find your OP rather ignorant and a huge generalisation! Me and my family are not so well off that we use private schools and healthcare but we still vote Tory. We all have our own reasons for voting the way we do.
I can't stand people blasting others for their political opinions, I find it incredibly small minded.

ommmward · 18/04/2017 16:28

Floating voter. I have voted for Lib dem, labour, conservative, green.

Having watched New Labour have a jolly good go at large interventionist State with lots of social engineering for over a decade, I'm up for the smallest State possible, thank you, and will almost certainly vote Conservative this time.

Lim0ne · 18/04/2017 16:28

Small business owners and entrepreneurs may feel they could be offered less incentives and taxed more heavily under Labour?
The so-called "squeezed middle" who also fear higher taxes?
People who can't move house because of stamp duty and fear this will only increase under Labour?
People who perceive the Labour Party and it's supporters as a bunch of entitled whingers, with no clear, responsible or credible fiscal policy that would actually improve the lives of the poorest in any case (or anyone else for that matter)?
People who get irritated by general strikes, inefficiency and red tape and see this as dragging us back into the 70s.
People who would actually quite like to vote LIbDem, but see it as a wasted vote?