i understand the short-team appeal of tactical voting, but in the long-term it circumscribes our political options and funnels votes to established parties representing increasingly narrow and staid political visions.
parties establish themselves by gradually building up their vote share and seat count; voting for a party that cannot win in most constituencies now is necessary groundwork for that party ever becoming politically relevant. a vote for labour was a wasted vote in most constituencies in, like, 1910, but people voted for them anyway as part of a process that led to them getting to a place where they could form governments 14 years later. if people were as obsessed with tactical voting as they are now, we’d all still be voting for the Liberal Party.
there has never been a safer election to vote your principles rather than tactically. labour are going to win. if you like the greens, vote for them.
There is not much other option if you don’t like the two main parties, not with our shit 19th century first past the post system.
It doesn’t matter who you vote for, the bloody government gets in.
I have usually voted tactically, as the party I want does not stand a chance where I live, and the party I don’t want would win if I don’t vote for the party I am ok with
I plan on voting tactically while also prioritising PR. But it honestly feels pointless as the Conservatives have a huge lead.
Last time I checked it was a toss up between Reform and LibDem for 2nd, doubt either have a real shot at winning.
Voting tactically meaning a vote for conservatives is a vote for labour
1 in 5 according to the BellCurve ™ have the IQ of a potato.
My MP at the moment is Hollobone. I wouldn’t give him the steam off my piss, let alone my vote.
They won’t get in where I am, but I’m voting Green just like I did in the last GE.
My constituency (Skipton & Ripon) has had a massive Con majority for years (almost 60% of the vote at the last election).
Current polling has Con on 31% and Lab on 30%, with (unfortunately) Reform and Lib Dem a distant 3rd and 4th.
All Lib Dem voters there should vote Lab, just to get the Tory nob out. This is the guy who in his leaflets tried to pass himself off as a representative of the people by having his name immediately followed by his “gong” (CBE, one short of a knighthood). What a prick. I really hope he loses.
I think that this election is one to vote tactically at tbh. I don’t particularly mind who gets in (Reform not included) as long as it gets the tories out.
Come next election I’ll go back to voting for the party I actually want.
It’s better to have the party I agree 75% with win, than it is to vote for the one I 100% agree with, and ending up with the one I 10% agree with winning.
Well I’ll be ‘voting tactically’.
Usually vote lib dems but may need to vote labour this time to help get rid of them.
I live in a Tory area. What can I do to ensure Tory’s won’t get in? Spoil my ballot?
For information, in the SE which Labour aren’t even bothering to contest.
*raises hand*
In a PR system I’d vote for Labour, but in our constituency the only party with even a faint chance of ousting the Tory MP is Lib Dems. Helps that the Lib Dem rep for our area is a genuinely decent guy with lots of experience.
I live in a Labour safe seat. I used my postal vote to vote Green. Not because they have a chance but because I like their policies and hope in some deluded way it might shift the eventual winners towards more green policies.
In short it’s absolutely wonderful that my vote counts for shit. I can vote with the safe seat Labour, or I can abstain. Either way my constituency will be Labour as it has been since 1974 (adjusted for boundary changes)
I’d absolutely love to live in a marginal.
Fuck first past the post.
I guess it depends where your priority is this time.
If you want the Tories out no matter what then you need to pick whoever has the best chance to do that. That might mean picking somebody you’d never normally vote for but if the alternative is more Tory rule then you need to decide to just take one for the team so to speak.
If your choice is based on more local issues though because you have a genuinely decent candidate who actually does things you want at a local level then you need to be picking them if you actually want them to win.
Don’t ever assume a candidate will win because they sound popular and you think your vote won’t matter. Some seats have literally been won by barely a handful of votes deciding it.
And I guess if you really don’t like anyone or there’s not a hope in hell of anyone but your least favourite winning you can always spoil you ballot. Those still get counted and if a big enough number of constituent’s ballots got spoiled I think there’d be some big questions for whoever allegedly won or the electoral commission.
Sign of a healthy democracy clearly is where people resort to tactical voting
We know how the first past the post system rewards the two main parties on their way up.
What many people don’t know is have brutally savage and punishing the first past the post system is for parties on their way down.
I am willing to bet my last Freddo that Rishi Sunak wishes with all his heart and soul that the UK had a proportional representation system right now
There’s no such thing as a ‘tactical vote’ for a party that supports FPTP. A Labour vote is a delayed Tory vote.
That statement will annoy people but it’s true. Tories can only win under FPTP. If Labour really cared about keeping them out they would introduce PR. But they won’t.
I’m nearly 50 and I can’t remember an election where Labour didn’t parrot the ‘a vote for another party is just letting the Tories in’ line. They won’t change. The only thing they will listen to is lost votes.
It’s strange to me that two parties being guaranteed to win is just accepted these days.
We’re lucky to have 5 parties, thank God we aren’t like America. But really we need more diverse political parties and they need to get more sustained support.
Having 2 options is not a good way forward for any country.
I have not voted at all. Voters have no right to complain.
20 comments
i understand the short-team appeal of tactical voting, but in the long-term it circumscribes our political options and funnels votes to established parties representing increasingly narrow and staid political visions.
parties establish themselves by gradually building up their vote share and seat count; voting for a party that cannot win in most constituencies now is necessary groundwork for that party ever becoming politically relevant. a vote for labour was a wasted vote in most constituencies in, like, 1910, but people voted for them anyway as part of a process that led to them getting to a place where they could form governments 14 years later. if people were as obsessed with tactical voting as they are now, we’d all still be voting for the Liberal Party.
there has never been a safer election to vote your principles rather than tactically. labour are going to win. if you like the greens, vote for them.
There is not much other option if you don’t like the two main parties, not with our shit 19th century first past the post system.
It doesn’t matter who you vote for, the bloody government gets in.
I have usually voted tactically, as the party I want does not stand a chance where I live, and the party I don’t want would win if I don’t vote for the party I am ok with
I plan on voting tactically while also prioritising PR. But it honestly feels pointless as the Conservatives have a huge lead.
Last time I checked it was a toss up between Reform and LibDem for 2nd, doubt either have a real shot at winning.
Voting tactically meaning a vote for conservatives is a vote for labour
1 in 5 according to the BellCurve ™ have the IQ of a potato.
My MP at the moment is Hollobone. I wouldn’t give him the steam off my piss, let alone my vote.
They won’t get in where I am, but I’m voting Green just like I did in the last GE.
My constituency (Skipton & Ripon) has had a massive Con majority for years (almost 60% of the vote at the last election).
Current polling has Con on 31% and Lab on 30%, with (unfortunately) Reform and Lib Dem a distant 3rd and 4th.
All Lib Dem voters there should vote Lab, just to get the Tory nob out. This is the guy who in his leaflets tried to pass himself off as a representative of the people by having his name immediately followed by his “gong” (CBE, one short of a knighthood). What a prick. I really hope he loses.
I think that this election is one to vote tactically at tbh. I don’t particularly mind who gets in (Reform not included) as long as it gets the tories out.
Come next election I’ll go back to voting for the party I actually want.
It’s better to have the party I agree 75% with win, than it is to vote for the one I 100% agree with, and ending up with the one I 10% agree with winning.
Well I’ll be ‘voting tactically’.
Usually vote lib dems but may need to vote labour this time to help get rid of them.
I live in a Tory area. What can I do to ensure Tory’s won’t get in? Spoil my ballot?
For information, in the SE which Labour aren’t even bothering to contest.
*raises hand*
In a PR system I’d vote for Labour, but in our constituency the only party with even a faint chance of ousting the Tory MP is Lib Dems. Helps that the Lib Dem rep for our area is a genuinely decent guy with lots of experience.
I live in a Labour safe seat. I used my postal vote to vote Green. Not because they have a chance but because I like their policies and hope in some deluded way it might shift the eventual winners towards more green policies.
In short it’s absolutely wonderful that my vote counts for shit. I can vote with the safe seat Labour, or I can abstain. Either way my constituency will be Labour as it has been since 1974 (adjusted for boundary changes)
I’d absolutely love to live in a marginal.
Fuck first past the post.
I guess it depends where your priority is this time.
If you want the Tories out no matter what then you need to pick whoever has the best chance to do that. That might mean picking somebody you’d never normally vote for but if the alternative is more Tory rule then you need to decide to just take one for the team so to speak.
If your choice is based on more local issues though because you have a genuinely decent candidate who actually does things you want at a local level then you need to be picking them if you actually want them to win.
Don’t ever assume a candidate will win because they sound popular and you think your vote won’t matter. Some seats have literally been won by barely a handful of votes deciding it.
And I guess if you really don’t like anyone or there’s not a hope in hell of anyone but your least favourite winning you can always spoil you ballot. Those still get counted and if a big enough number of constituent’s ballots got spoiled I think there’d be some big questions for whoever allegedly won or the electoral commission.
Sign of a healthy democracy clearly is where people resort to tactical voting
We know how the first past the post system rewards the two main parties on their way up.
What many people don’t know is have brutally savage and punishing the first past the post system is for parties on their way down.
I am willing to bet my last Freddo that Rishi Sunak wishes with all his heart and soul that the UK had a proportional representation system right now
There’s no such thing as a ‘tactical vote’ for a party that supports FPTP. A Labour vote is a delayed Tory vote.
That statement will annoy people but it’s true. Tories can only win under FPTP. If Labour really cared about keeping them out they would introduce PR. But they won’t.
I’m nearly 50 and I can’t remember an election where Labour didn’t parrot the ‘a vote for another party is just letting the Tories in’ line. They won’t change. The only thing they will listen to is lost votes.
It’s strange to me that two parties being guaranteed to win is just accepted these days.
We’re lucky to have 5 parties, thank God we aren’t like America. But really we need more diverse political parties and they need to get more sustained support.
Having 2 options is not a good way forward for any country.
I have not voted at all. Voters have no right to complain.