Pro Reform or not?

[WTAFMF]

My husband thinks way more people are 'Reform' than you'd think and many keep it quiet.

I disagreed but lately, with the flags and recent march and conversations at school gates, etc. I'm starting to think he may be right.

Pro Reform = You are being unreasonable
Other Party/None = You are NOT being unreasonable

Wondering what the consensus is on Mumsnet..

Who is "They"?

Almost every supporter I see on local social media are adults well over the age of 25....

I wish I was as hopeful as you. The reform voters I know, don’t understand or particularly care about anything other than immigration. Things like the economy, growth, climate change, investing in sciences etc doesn’t even come into their thinking.

I am absolutely not pro Reform. They are a bunch of racist thugs. They'll never get my vote but I live in a constituency where they might expect to do well.

I'm a bit worried that your DH might have a point.

A large number of those I see protesting are young. Boys, carrying sticks and wearing black masks. The other majority are youngish women.

The only reform people I know are either racists or the type of people who are not very curious about politics. That’s a polite way of saying they aren’t interested in reading a wide range of sources, having discussions or being challenged with actual facts. I’ve tried to keep an open mind about Reform lovers but I haven’t been proved wrong yet.

You mean the ones who aren’t dead? I reckon a fair percentage of leave voters won’t be voting again.

Most people are intelligent enough to see what Reform stands for. And most people aren't racist.

America elected Trump once.

The American electoral system elected him the first time.

And didn’t the Afd lost their most recent election this year?

And didn’t the Afd lost their most recent election this year?

yep, the far right are gaining ground all across Europe- it’s not just here.

Er, let me think ....No!

😆

Isn’t losing their most recent election the opposite of gaining ground?

I’m anti reform and wish labour would get their act together so people stop thinking reform is a good idea

MN is a largely middle class, leftist echo chamber and not representative of the populace at large.

Everyone here was absolutely convinced Brexit would never happen… look how that turned out 😄

How do you know they’re ’from Reform’?

Yep 😒

Reform have attracted a young crowd. As have MAGA

The fact they were in the running at all is concerning.
But, thats with a really strong wind behind them. Massive support from Elon Musk, huge public dissatisfaction, issues going back to the fall of the Berlin Wall, line wolf style terrorist attacks right before the election.
And it's similar in this country. I think if we had an election at this exact moment in time Reform might be in with a chance. But it's a single moment in time. Hopefully their conference (and the ideas the mainstreamed) and SYLs parade will be a high water mark. I don't think complacency is a good idea.

Do you have a source for the age profile.

Yeah apologies - I skim read the post but currently the AfD are certainly not doing badly.

The public support from Musk and Commander Waterford appeared to be their undoing as they did less well than expected.

I don’t support Reform, but there will be a lot of people out there who don’t want to lose anything due to political differences. So I agree that lots of people silently support Reform. Whether it’s enough to win the next election I am less sure.

Trump won in 2016 according to the American electoral system as it actually exists, not some alternate system which his opponents would like. He won more delegates to the Electoral College than Clinton did. The popular vote is irrelevant.

Do you think he wasn't joining in because he thought he'd be ostracised or attacked? I am sure you wouldn't. But I think online distorts things and makes people less likely to talk to their families/friends if they have different opinions because all you get on X is "the left hate you, Keir Starmer hates you etc". When in reality most people will put up with pretty extreme views from loved ones. At worst you would get a "debate". It's deliberately feeding a kind of truculence/the world is against us in my opinion. I think Garage is definetly playing into that- every time he's criticised he tries to turn it into an attack on ordinary people.

Yeah, Musk's money is helpful. Musk not so much.