What Influences Your Vote?

[agchristie]

As we head towards the 2015 General Election, what are the factors that influence your choice? Is it personalities, policies, how your ancestors voted or something else?

You may feel strongest say about immigration, but what if you are influenced by more issues from another party?

A lot of questions there but has the nation become more trivial in their decision-making process?

[naomi24]

tommy, the problem with voting for "the person" is that one person doesn't govern.

[woofgang]

policies that are important to me are controlling public spending, giving proper care to the elderly and not taxing the middle class out of all reason.

[horseshoes]

I'm sticking with Dave too. Don't like Ed OR his politics. I just hope we can dump Clegg this time round.

As for Blair and his New Labour - don't get me started! Totally corrupt IMO, him and his horror of a wife.

[agchristie]

Horseshoes - not a fan of coalition government then! What have been the main handicaps for the Tories do you think?

[horseshoes]

Sorry, dinner interrupted! Clegg too much of the bleeding heart brigade. We need someone to get a real grip on all sorts of issues facing the UK.

[agchristie]

Well, the Chancellor seems to be 'carrying his bat' at the minute with the economy in good hands! AND Boris is waiting in the wings!!

[agchristie]

Scrivens - what do you find so repulsive about Politics?

[agchristie]

I could almost have predicted that answer Scrivens!

[EDDIE51]

When voting for a particular party you have to remember a few facts!
1 No matter what any party says we WILL NOT be leaving the EU.
2 The freedom of movement within the EU is the most basic principle of it's existence , again no matter what any party says they can not do anything about it.
Like it or not we are stuck with the EU so we have to make the most of it.

[askyourgran]

I'd vote for the party who has the determination to make sensible working policies regarding the whole immigration situation, national debt, the EU, Benefits system, rewrite the Human Rights Act etc. etc. My father was a hard working man who always voted Labour and no doubt influenced my mother to do the same. I have never felt that loyalty towards Labour mainly because of the ever present Union interference in the workplace. Conservative would be my partly reluctant choice as Ukip are saying the things I would rather hear. If Dave renages on his promises for immigration and the EU then I will not vote for him again.

[agchristie]

AYG - net migration figures will worry you somewhat then?

What do you think Cameron has to do to turn the screw in the crucial months to come?

[jim360]

I voted in a General Election for the first time in 2010 for the Liberal Democrats. I think it was a general impression that their policies seemed most closely aligned to my idea, although there were a few specifics I wasn't so keen on. In particular the Tuition fees "promise" which I kind of knew even at the time was never going to be a reality. Mind, I didn't even expect them to be in government, at least not on their own, so I was just hoping that their influence would grow. How well this has turned out is, perhaps, not as I'd hoped, although I do think that the LibDems have made some difference for the better to the Coalition.

When it comes to the next vote I expect it will be the same again, at least in terms of the approach. I expect one of the major factors will depend a bit on the outcome of the Independence Referendum. If it's a "yes" vote then perhaps the negotiations would be ongoing so I'd vote for the party bringing the best set of ideas to that particular table.

Also I care in particular about Energy and Science policies, so will look at those. In the end I expect to vote for the Lib Dems again...

[agchristie]

Jim - do you think Clegg needs to step aside to resurrect the party? I always thought Vince Cable was one of their best assets but even he has had some tough times.

[jim360]

I'm not really sure. Possibly. But a more important problem is that LibDem supporters in general seem to have no idea what they want in party. I'd have thought that the LibDems being in government and actually able to influence matters, rather than just shout loudly. Sure it was the Tories they joined in the Coalition but in 2010 what other choice was there? Labour had lost, even if the Tories didn't win, and the minority government was not an option either, so Clegg was stuck. Which actually probably means that all that guff about "coming together in the national interest, not the party interest" might actually be true!

Perhaps the Lib Dems received too many protest votes from people who wanted to stick two fingers up at the main two parties without actually caring what the LibDems stood for? Anyway, Clegg may have to go at the next Election by default. I can see him losing his seat.

[DTCwordfan]

Having been exposed to John Stuart Mill when I was 16, principally 'On Liberty,' his core message that the important element of individualism leads to the higher plane of utilitarianism, the summum bonum of that per se, I very much look at the policies between the parties.

I lean strongly to a Patten-ist approach to markets and foreign policy, i.e. that we cannot survive now as Little Britain existing by its little self though I have frequently asked 'what would be the cost/benefits of coming out of Europe and entering NAFTA as the 'Venn diagram' union between N. America and Europe.

No one has answered that one with anything constructive.

[agchristie]

Jim - LibDems may have received a lot of protest votes indeed, it remains to be seen how UKip fare from their recent gains...

[askyourgran]

Sorry ag, I missed your post. Net migration is a worry to me, we cannot continue to support more immigrants, illegal entry is almost a joke. The sooner we leave the EU the better imo. Free trade would be much better for us than free movement of people. Only those with skills and a job to come to should be the yardstick. We have lost much of our industries now Steel, coal, tailoring weaving, engineering, all of which provided work, particularly apprenticeships for young people leaving school, who are now mostly rudderless. It's time we got our self governance back, the EU has overtaken everything even our Justice system.