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

[olddogsnewtricks]

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?

I vote Tory at a national level because I want the country to be better off

I hope you've realised now what a mistake that was?

"That if I ever pay off my mortgage my children will get my house and not the tax man"

Sorry not picking on the particular poster who said this, but I have heard this sentiment so many times from local Tory voters. Inheritance tax is one of the fairest ways to redistribute wealth from rich to poor. Vast numbers of Christians are Tory voters, and yet I hear them repeating this. To be honest that sickens me. If you are dead you do not need your money. Taking a good chunk and ploughing it into supporting the poor, health and educations is an amazingly good thing to do.

Education and health care are a priority me and they suffered badly under Labour's mismanagement.

YES!
Labour set up the NHS to fail, it was a mess, a TOTAL MESS!, under labour which made it easy for the Torys to come in and pick it apart and say "it's not working so we're going to change it". Labour broke it for them.

The student fees were written up under labour and put into force by the Tories.

Labour fucks up our nice things then Torys come in and tell us we don't deserve nice things any more because we brake them.

It's like Labour is your big brother who say they're gonna come and play nice with you but they just come in and get out all your toys at once and mess up your room, then Torys are your mum in a foul mood who scoop everything up off the floor into black bags because "if you aren't going to look after it I'll go in the bin"

Cartman do you really think politics has gathered round the centre ground? I really wish it had! In fact I think it's pulled massively to the right, beyond even Thatcher often, so that Corbyn's policies, which are very similar to Callaghan's, now look far-left.

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!
Yes,completely agree!

Inheritance tax is one of the fairest ways to redistribute wealth

I can't find any reason to ever agree with that sentence

As a massive sweeping generalisation from someone who votes neither Labour nor Conservative, right wing parties can do well in both high and low income brackets. Right wing policies often manage to appeal to both at the same time as they are (generally) anti-welfare state and anti-immigration.

I find your OP rather ignorant and a huge generalisation

How can it be a generalization when I specifically said it was my personal experience? I didn't "blast" anyone.

We all have our own reasons for voting the way we do.
Well, that's what this thread is about -why not discuss them?

I must be called Jack then as I'm a product of Liverpool in the 1980s and vote Conservative.

Except I'm not, called Jack that is. I just don't believe life owes anyone anything and you have to work for it, sactrifice for it and persevere.

Those who can't (such as the genuinely disabled), should be supported with no question but the bone idle who throw away what they are given in the desire to be one of the crowd should not be helped without getting their own finger out and helping themselves first.

Thank you for answering the question! Interesting.

I should clarify that I don't vote tory. However I live in a conservative area. The bits that seem to appeal to friends and family are a small state and a belief in individual responsibility. They don't see it as no healthcare or education but a different way of delivering those services to people that might be more efficient.

I'm pretty normal.

Middle class, middle income, until recently a single parent (now cohabiting) with a disabled child and a chronic condition myself.

My children are in state schools and I work in the NHS as does DP.

We both vote Conservative because for us, there is no alternative option and I think the alternative is worse.

Labour? They're just farcical. Couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery and their leader is wetter than an otter's pocket.

LibDems? I like a lot of their thinking but they're ineffective and have no strength. They need some numbers and a better cohesive leadership.

UKIP? I don't bloody think so.

Green? Not in the real world.

I don't always agree with how things are managed but the alternative is no better. I would like to see more investment in Education in a real way, not grammars and league tables. I'd like to see the NHS reformulated, it's unwieldy and unsustainable in it's current form. I'd like to see more investment in the military/Defence.

I don't want a return to the 'state support as a lifestyle choice' situation we had 15-20 years ago. I don't want taxes lowered at all costs - if we want the country we want and need we need to pay for it.

I think at a GE it's going to be a case of voting for the best of a bad lot really.

Those who can't (such as the genuinely disabled), should be supported with no question

But the Tories have cut disability payments?

I have to chuckle round here we have a labour council and people are fuming at how badly it's run and how shit amenities are and where does all our money go...yet so many local people want labour in its hilarious! Why?! They have ruined this town at a council level let that serve as warning!

Oh and most Tory voters I know are either currently or retired army, NHS, emergency services, teachers or social workers.

They're not voting because of tabloid headlines, they vote tory because when it comes to the sector they know well, they believe that sector is better served under the Tory party.

I might not agree, but they're not voting out of ignorance, I'ld say a lot of them are voting out of bitter experience! A lot of them also say "if you don't vote left when you're young you have no soul, if you don't vote right when your old you have no brain"

I think a lot of left leaning individuals have had their ideals shattered over time.

Because they are sensible. If you want an NHS and a state able to fund the welfare state you don't vote for the left who spend what they don't have. You vote for the party which will ensure we live within our means, something thankfully ordinary families in the UK understand so well.

PlayonWurtz - probably because the local funding has been cut by the Conservative government.

I did in the last election because Ed Milliband was not fit to be PM, I thought Cameron was and I live in a Tory/Labour swing seat. I knew a vote for Tory would make a difference so that's what I did.

I have massive regret now though. Our MP is a fuckwit. Utterly selfish, no sense of community and basically an Old School Tory trying to pretend he was a centre leaning Conservative.

Trouble is I'm in the same conundrum for June. Labour still have a muppet as leader who will be an awful PM. May would be better than Corbyn. But local MP is still a fuckwit so I'm loath to give him me vote just to weaken Corbyn's mandate for power.

That leaves me wasting my vote on another candidate who have no chance locally. The only way this election would be positive is if Labour were led by a competent leader. As it stands we lose no matter the outcome

It's got nothing to do with funding cuts. It's been labour since way back when. Labour just cannot manage money.

My beliefs do not fall into one parties system. I firmly believe that each party has good and bad Policies. I vote based upon the policies of each party at election time and How they will affect the Country as a whole rather than myself.

Tory voters are getting a lot of flack now but you have to realise that what we are seeing
right now is NOT what they voted for.

The coalition government was a strong government imo and although it had its faults (like all governments) it was a big boost to the economy and our countries stability. I can absolutely see why people thought conservatives to be a viable option.

The government we see now however is an absolute joke. They have already been forced to backtrack on several things as they went against their election promises. Several other things they have forced through under the radar. Things they claimed they would fix they have broken further. What we are seeing is not what they promised.

Our government is in utter chaos right now. The torys have fucked up so badly even lifelong Tory voters are turning against them. labour have a leader who is so ineffective he can't even get his Own party to Support him. Lib dems can't get rid of the blame they were given for torys shit decisions.

Honestly right now there is NO leader I trust to do the job right. I think we have the worst choices in decades.

This whole thread is proof that even those who stand to lose the most will continue voting for the tories even as they cut the NHS, our schools, and benefits payments to the bone - and beyond. It is flabbergasting.

FFS me vote was meant to be my vote. I'm not illiterate!

Play - local government is mainly funded by central government. So yes, funding cuts have a lot to do with it.

Also Should be noted that Tory cuts are so harsh because Labour spent 10 years pissing up the wall money we didn't have.

Janet - presumably you won't be voting tory then, since despite their rhetoric on austerity, they've only managed to increase the national debt?