To think the main Mumsnet demographic are out of touch politically

[Veiledveritas]

Reform.are smashing the polls yet any Reform voter is despised and ridiculed on here.

No party has or will be able to achieve that - they don’t have a money tree. How would you suggest those items are funded?

I think we tend to over-perceive whatever confirms us in our own political biases (confirmation bias). Getting angry tends to confirm/reinforce whatever views we have. So I think we over-perceive the posts/opinions that cause us to rehearse our anger.

What I have seen on MN in recent years is the steady growth of right-wing/Reform opinions. It doesn't at all seem to me that the "main Mumsnet demographic" "despises and ridicules" Reform voters.

The language in the OP is very intense and polemical, as is the very first reply. I think that people who are more disengaged from current political fractures will be more likely to see that there is quite a spread of views on MN, left and right.

Do you know how many of them are done by local councils, which is what these elections are for?

I presume this is about the local council elections?
Reform are gaining many seats but they aren’t controlling councils yet.

And council elections are historically low turnout and those whom do a protest vote. General Elections are very different.

Reform as a political party have about 25% popularity, no one can deny it’s an impressive rise, that leaves 75% supporting other parties.

Women as a group tend to be more left leaning than men. Which again isn’t that much of a surprise women tend to need services to help support the support they give. So for ease let’s say the Reform vote as a percentage of population is 15% men 10% women.

And mumsnet is female heavy.

So about 10% will support Reform, if you take averages across the country. Which sounds about right. Meaning about 90% of women don’t support Reform.

Peer pressure and the fear of speaking against the group is more pronounced among female than male groups. So you are going to get more people on here who are right-wing but won't say it, then in more mixed forums, where the (men) don't care about saying unpopular things at all.

I'd say men are much more conformist among themselves than women. Much, much more.

Given the right-wing nonsense I see every day on MN, I highly doubt there are any right-leaning MNers who are shy about their beliefs at all.

Agreed

Good for you.

Which items are you referring to re funding? From what I understand, millions (if not billions) of taxpayers money is wasted each year, or at the very least spent frivolously (House of Lords anyone?) if the spending is controlled then we wouldn't need to raise taxes to such extremes.

People are frustrated and so they should be. We’ve been in decline economically and it feels socially since before Brexit, which really served as the icing on the cake.

Cost of living has risen rapidly in the past couple of years, housing is insufficient, healthcare inadequate and there is an increasing sense that many crimes have been essentially decriminalised.

People want change and accountability and instead - as has already happened on this thread - get dismissed as uneducated/bigoted/racist for seeking it.

It probably turns people off Labour even more.

Yes I understand that thank you. The point I have made is that these results show how unhappy people are with the current government and so many have voted Reform in protest. Hopefully, following this bashing, Labour will pull their socks up before the GE.

Is it left wing to not want to be fired for getting pregnant, to expect an nhs service that works, to want Sen provision for children. Cool I’m left wing all the way.
Let’s all help make able bodied rich white men better off. This country will get what it deserves just like America- bravo to everyone who voted reform.

it feels like a repeat of Brexit, that there is this assumption that it’s so obviously stupid to not vote for it that anyone who does must be stupid / racist etc rather than genuine open ended inquiry and recognition of people’s concerns

And while Brexit has ultimately been stupid, by not engaging properly with people’s fears a valuable opportunity was missed to properly defend the values / opportunities the EU offered

The polls have spoken

I hope the areas who’ e now chosen Reform enjoy their new councillors- with a bit of luck their overwhelming shitness will show people that they aren’t fit to run a government OR maybe we’ll be proved wrong and they’ll be great! In which case WIN-WIN for us non- reformers.

Sure this is a massive issue but voting in absolute useless chancers and liars would not resolve any of the problems you listed - nor it will resolve the immigration issue.

The reason Reform supporters appear not very bright is mainly due to the fact Reform have done nothing beyond promising something they very obviously can not achieve, they have no policies or clear strategies and some of their ideas are either evil or bonkers. This is a party with no substance, lead by a complete fraudster. Very strange people can't see it.

Think you have your maths a bit wrong there.
15% of men and 10% of women makes 12.5% of the population not 25%.

I wouldn't even attempt percentages at this time of the morning though.

Islington 🙄🙄🤣

The problem as I see it is well run countries cost money in taxes and the parties in charge have to work together. But that’s BORIIIING for a lot of people! Consensus politics, sensible and dull representatives, compromising, BORING! 🥱
doesn’t grab headlines, it isn’t exciting.

Is that all Reform have? Wow some are in for a bumpy ride when they realise that trumpeting migrants in hotels does not a good councillor make.

Oh and migrant in hotel numbers have gone down,the like of which they never did under the Tories.

What do you mean - "not properly engaged"? There was enough information on what Brexit will achieve, but any debate was drowned out by shouts of "project fear". Everyone who voted for Brexit were an adult capable of making their own mind, and they chose to vote for a harmful outcome purely because of one or two issues they considered very important (without even researching properly if these are going to be solved by their vote), while ignoring everything else. This is the same situation we see with Reform.

As a white, MC voter with some ££, a house, able to afford private healthcare if needed, I should be all over Reform… in theory I’ll be ‘better’ off but I don’t need to be better off.
I want all kids in the UK to have a decent education, have enough to eat, have jobs, have decent health care. Not just mine.

This is very true. These people are obsessed. And totally irrational.

They don’t reflect the real world but like to hijack every thread with their aggressive nonsense. And calling everyone who does vote like them stupid and racist. The numbers are literally telling them the country disagrees with them. Yet they are so blind to it.

To be honest, they sum up far left really well.

I’ve just woken up and I’m actually bloody shocked!!! I knew Labour were going to be decimated but I didn’t think Reform were actually going to be the party. I voted Conservative, I would never vote Reform.

It’s already been reported that this one hasn’t been a low turn out

I'm not "left" but I agree that Reform voters are peculiar bunch. How can you vote for a party that has no clear policies beyond slogans?