If there was a general election this week, how would you vote?

[TheDullWitch]

OK, quick poll inspired by David Willetts thread. Answer...

1. How you would vote
2. Who you usually vote for
3. Main issue/personality/event which has made your decision.

i am still reeling from that twat Boris Johnson being voted in as London mayor = after all the hard work Ken put in with the 2012 Olympics, then we have that idiot standing their unable to even shake what it was he was shaking i can not for the life of me think who voted him in - other than those living blissfully unaware in the suburbs = feel the same way about the tories - who votes tory?? the obscenly rich? who else would - serious question! I don't get it

Nicky what do you think the Tories will do better than Labour? (serious question)

Labour
Labour
Because I would rather boil my own head than voye for a government who are liars, cheats, misogynists and will not look after the ordinary people in this country. GB may not be the most charismatic of leaders but he is not a smarmy school boy twat who wheels out his poor kids at every given opp, I remember the Tory days and never want to go back there, thanks (phew!)

baby, the rich and the right (Wing), thats who.

oh god, it scares the life out of me that these muppets could actually get in again - i really thought we'd moved on as a country since the tory days but it seems not as far as some are concerned

It's an interesting question I suppose - whether when we vote for a political party we should be selfish and vote for the party who best suits our situation.

I suppose I AM the Tories target voter - living in London, high income, married, sick of the Labour party.

If their policies benefit me but make poor people poorer, should I not vote for them?

'If their policies benefit me but make poor people poorer, should I not vote for them?'
that kind of sums up tories for me...

yes, agreed CatIsSleepy - selfish and shortsighted attitude imho

Nicky I can only assume you are actually a labour-voter whose trolling to make Tories look bad

(at least I really hope so)

That's the thing - I wouldn't class myself as a Tory - have voted Lib Dem the last 2 elections, but have never and would never vote Labour.

Does it make it worse if someone rich votes Tory than someone poor voting Tory though? Because the rich person is being "selfish" whereas the poor person admires their policies?

(1) probably labour or green (not that it makes any difference who i vote for, as where I live, labour have always had a huge majority)

(2)lib dem/labour/green

(3) I worked for the NHS through the Tory years, and remember the underfunding and the struggle. The current financial problems are worldwide, i'm not convinced the tories would have handled them any better.

yeah but really, if you are porr why would you vote for the Tories?? seriously Norky?

MP - not sure if you are talking to me with the Nicky? If so, then no I'm not a trolling Labour voter.

My original post wasn't a statement, it was a question for discussion ("If their policies benefit me but make poor people poorer, should I not vote for them?").

I would think the the people who will vote Tory in the next election are not all going to be rich southerners - there will be a large proportion of people who just can't stand more Labour years.

poor even

1. Not sure but extremely unlikely to be Labour.

1. I'm a typical floating voter - raving loonies aside, I've ticked most boxes at some point, but tend to the Lib Dems as both Tories and Lab are either smug, inept or both.

1. Still stunned at Labour for introducing tuition fees - how is that left wing? The Tories would never have got away with it!

But more than that, I'mm furious with old 'Prudence' Brown with all his proudly proclaimed fiscal rules. Despite these, the govt has completely failed to save for a rainy day. Yes, the credit crisis is global, but we could have been better cushioned against it if Labour hadn't been so busy buying votes with all our country's savings (albeit with some lovely policies that I approve of wholeheartedly. But that's the whole point isn't it? We trust them to make the tough spending decisions for us, because left to our own devices, we'd all be selfish and want the 'nice' things here and now even if that wasn't the best thing for us in the long run).

Incidentally, I don't really buy all the 'Oh the Tories will never change' arguments - fifteen years ago, I'd have said the same about Labour but they really have changed (as demonstrated by aforementioned tuition fee decision!) I think the drubbing the Tories got in 1997 kicked a lot of the arrogance out of the party. They know that they have to do better - for all people, not just the rich, if they want to (a) win and (b) stay in power.

It doesn't mean I'm going to vote for them though...

1. Tory
2. Tory
3. Where to start? In no particular order: abolition of Assisted Places Scheme

erosion of civil liberties ID cards undermining of the basic principle behind the English legal system of 'innocent until proven guilty' war in Iraq handling of the economy (take all the credit when things seemed to be going well, blame global factors now they quite clearly aren't) handling of the credit crisis attitude to motorists

Interesting - hope you can all see this not sure if you have to be a member or not?

Netmums version of this thread..

Conservative
Conservative
Blair's lies.

Very interesting on NetMums. See MN is very 'left'.

I think it would be interesting if we had a little counter that showed how many people have viewed this thread/are lurking vs the number that actually post (y'know, like on ebay!).

Netmums really does live up to the stereotype, doesn't it? MNers are giving thoughtful reasons for their views, Netmums posters just being tribal.

I lurked for ages before posting, then got annoyed that the balance was so 'left' that I posted.

Norky - nothing wrong with your statement there, we all vote for who we think would best serve us don't we? You have to think about your own household and whats best for that before thinking of the greater picture don't you?

Tory
Tory
Because I couldn't bring myself to vote Labour and I think voting Lib Dem or Green is a wasted vote frankly.

I think when those who work away from home come home in the evening and log on there might be a changing flavour.

Zenia, for instance.

Not necessarily, fadge. I was very well off in '97, didn't make me vote Tory (am less well off now but that's my circumstances, not the government's fault. Apart from council tax).