AIBU to ask you why you vote the way you do?

[TheRealGussieFinkNottle]

Genuinely interested - e.g. if you vote Labour/Conservative/Lib Dem/Green/UKIP, why have you decided to? And if you're a swing voter, why?

(Promise I'm not a journalist. Have been on the site for a while as a regular user, and just really interested in politics and people's political views).

If called upon to make a difficult decision it can helpful to ask oneself what Corbyn would do and then do the opposite

So he was wrong to oppose apartheid in South Africa? To vote against war in Iraq? To oppose the bedroom tax, the NIR and ID cards, PFI expansion? Hmmm. That's an interesting view of wrong on everything you have there.

I have voted conservative, labour and lib dem at various times. I have gradually got more left-wing as I've got older and would almost certainly never vote Tory again. I voted Lib Dem in the last election because I live in the nearest thing to a safe Lib Dem seat and didn't want the Tories to take it. However, I would have voted Labour if I lived elsewhere, and probably will next time.

Conservative as I cannot bear the thought of labour in power and, in particular, JC causing spectacular damage to the country.

Green. The environment is the most important thing.

I have voted green once (wasted vote entirely) and otherwise labour (because I opposed the Tory party and didn’t want my vote to be wasted).

I will never vote labour again because I don’t think they would be good for the country. I don’t want to live in a country that is too socialist because it is bad economically. Also a lot of things the Tories have been blamed for where actually Labour policies.
I now believe that Labour and the Conservatives are both as bad as each other.
I could not vote for the Lib Dem’s last time because I think Brexit should go ahead as it would otherwise be undemocratic. I used to blame them for Con Dem policies and the fag packet universal school lunch idea.

I will probably vote Lib Dem in the future if they get sorted out a bit and after Brexit as they most closely fit my political beliefs (although not entirely by any stretch of the imagination).

So I will always waste my vote, more or less.
I will always vote though because women died and protested for my right to do so, and that is more important to me than which party.

I vote Labour for numerous reasons.
One main reason is I think they actually care about the NHS.
The fact they had a manifesto this year also helped.

I do wish Corbyn would have spoke up during Brexit though and actually had an opinion.

I know talk about sitting on the fence 😂

Conservative. Mainly because I'm Scottish and don't want to see the SNP destroy the country I live in.

Unfortunately too many naive people seem to believe the SNPs false promises that just aren't possible. I think unfortunately it will take a generation before people realise.

Another reason I vote labour is that, ok they might not be popular, and I don't agree with all of their policies but they are realistic and don't go about promising things from the magical money trees that Jeremy Corbin likes to wave about.

If everything the SNP / Labour promised us wasn't guaranteed or even semi realistic, then I'd vote for one of them in a heartbeat!

I vote labour because I believe in equality of opportunity. No one should have to wait more than 4 hours at A&E, regardless of income or postcode. Every child should have a decent education, not just the children of those who can afford the house prices in good catchment areas.

I normally spoil my ballot
for extremely obvious reasons.

I regard voting as a duty and a proud right (it cost me a lot of money to get the vote here)
but I think almost all politicians are self serving hypocritical scumbags

Labour. I think the answer to high levels of unemployment is widening participation, investing in healthcare and supporting those who can work to do so - not killing those who can't work, which seems to be the Tory way.

SNP. Want Scotland to be independent and in control of our own affairs free from Westminster. If independence happens I would vote green and I do in local elections but no point with the FPTP system.

Since you ask, sinceyouask, Im prepared to concede that even a blind pig may find an acorn once in a while. Not often tho

they are realistic and don't go about promising things from the magical money trees that Jeremy Corbin likes to wave about

Unless it's a stupid amount of money to get a homophobic anti-women far right party on your side, right? There's a magic money tree for that.

Similarly to Blossom every election I read all the manifestos and attend the hustings and then make a decision about who I think would be best. I’m a floating voter, in the past I’ve voted Lib Dem, Labour, Green and SNP. I’ve never voted Conservative.

I disagree with User though, not everyone votes in their own self interest.

I’ve recently been voting SNP even though Independence would be worse for me financially.

Mostly I do my best to vote my principles. The renewal of Trident was a huge issue for me and I couldn’t vote for a party that supported it.

Swing - voted SNP in Scotland but obviously can't do that back in England, before and after that I've followed vote-for-policies and gone with the result on that after considering local candidates

TheRealGussieFinkNottle My MP is Rachel Reeves.

I sometimes pick up about the stuff she does through posts from others on Facebook, and I know she's been fighting our corner for flood defences.

On a personal level, the local council messed up my father's care home fees and caused a massive amount of distress around the time he died which was completely avoidable. I wrote to Rachel Reeves and by return of post I had a reply from her and the same day a very apologetic call from the council after recieving what sounds like a scorching MP's letter.

It wasn't just that she dealt with the council (they had really messed up) but that she wrote promptly and followed up to make sure everything was alright. I've lived under different MPs that wouldn't have got that far in a month of Sundays and I really appreciate her attitude to her constituents.

I'm very disallusioned with all the political parties, but I would always vote, even if it was just a spoiled ballot.

I vote Labour. I always have. I believe in proper funding for the NHS, schools and other public services. I also don't agree that austerity is the way to improve our economy.

I don't think bits of the NHS should be put into private hands and I don't agree with social housing being sold. We need our social housing stock and unless we're going to replace it, we should be keeping it for those who need it most.

I lost my job (redundancy) at the hands of the Tories back in the 80s, and I feel the circumstances of my job loss (and many others) were down to policies that I could never endorse.

I like Jeremy Corbyn as a constituency MP but wasn't sure about him as a party leader. However, he is doing really well in my view, despite the smear campaigns by the right-wing press.

I'm gutted that Labour was wimpish over Brexit, though, and worry about my children's futures when we leave the EU.

Josiah what about the war in iraq, did that pass the moral test' 😂

I have voted Green and Lib dem in the past but I think I vote depending on whats going on in the world at that time and what feels right for me. I may vote Labour or Conservative one day if it feels right at that given time. People vote depending on their experiences in life, which is why I don't have anything against people who voted leave...

I'll vote for lib dem next time I expect. I'm a labour voter at heart but I think that Jeremy Corbyn and his crew will bring the country to its knees. The tories are fairly dire too at the moment but at least there's a chance under them that it will still be safe to be jewish in britain which under Labour it's seriously questionable if it will be.

I normally vote conservative (although I'm not a fan). Voting day usually goes like this for me:

1. Wake up in the morning feeling good.
2. Remember that it is polling day.
3. Feel less good.
4. Get dressed to go to the polling station.
5. Go to the front door only to have second thoughts (wtf is the point?)
6. Settle down to a nice cup of tea.
7. Accidentally pull up the times on my phone.
8. Have a small panic attack at the thought of living in a socialist shot hole (or rather more of a socialist shot hole).
9. Go to polling station.

10. Grumpily choose the least bad option.

I would vote for anyone but Jeremy corbyn, i fear for the country and many who voted for him haven't seen the damage done to countries with leaders like him. I fear a rerun of the Venezuelan nightmare, he is too left wing and his main aides are downright evil fascists, some of whom are even on MI5 watchlists. Now that can't be right on any level.

I vote conservative with a heavy heart. I'm actually pretty centre and feel no one represents me. If pushed I sway to the right though as IRL I find most people who identify as left wing to be thoroughly unpleasant on a personal level and it puts me off.

I’m a floating voter, though I would never vote Tory. I voted Labour last time, not that I like Jeremy Corbyn but I’m sickened by what the Tories have done to the NHS and at the number of people having to go to food banks.