Why Were So Many People Afraid To Admit That They Wanted To Vote Tory?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/politics-blog/11591218/Why-were-so-many-people-afraid-to-admit-that-they-wanted-to-vote-Tory.html

/// There is something very ugly going on in our public discourse – and the Left-wing activists (and their media hangers-on) might ask themselves what they think they are accomplishing when they bully and ridicule that vast tranch of the country into being so secretive about their vote. What they have managed to achieve in this election is massive self-delusion. ///

[Peter Pedant]

// Branson, Dyson, Sugar, Bamford have a good public image because of their success, not inspite of it. //

yeah like The Barclay twins, Dirty Desmond, Slater Walker ( unacceptable face of capitalism and THAT was from Edw Heath ), Lord King of British Airways, Margaret Hodge ( she of the Liechtenstein Trust fund - oh and House of commons select committee capitalist beater ) to name a few

[Prudie]

NJ is right. Take AB, admit you're Tory and you either have to have superb robust debating skills and/or skin as thick as an elephants or you have to accept you are a stuck up rich toff who doesn't give a toss about the sick, disabled, poor. disadvantaged or immigrants.

[DaisyNonna]

Excuse me, but do you not understand the concept of a Secret Ballot which the election is purported to be?

[jim360]

Incidentally there was some level of anti-SNP tactical voting in Scotland too. I know for a fact that at least one vote the Labour party received (mine) wasn't cast because of a desire to see them govern. I just hoped to keep the SNP out. As it happens I live in the lone red splodge in a sea of yellow so I guess I was successful. There was a lot of tactical voting in Scotland -- in some seats, even if all anti-SNP voters stuck to Labour, it wouldn't have been enough, but it did go on. Even Labour's dreadful result in Scotland is probably inflated!

Equally, then, there will have been plenty of votes cast for the Tories that were actually driven by worry about the alternative. This is what I mean when I said that it's not necessarily a victory for the Conservatives as much as a defeat for Labour and the Lib Dems.

[Peter Pedant]

// Excuse me, but do you not understand the concept of a Secret Ballot which the election is purported to be?//

I think we do Daisy my sweet

the discussion last time I looked was about exit and opinion polls
( that is where you dont go into a booth and vote but instead answer a question voluntarily about how you would vote )

[DaisyNonna]

I do understand that but if you answer the question truthfully you have not voted secretly.
I am not your sweet.

[New Judge]

"The British people greatly admire people who are successful..."

Probably true of the 15m or so who voted Conservative or UKIP. Not so sure about the rest. Ask many people who believe that alll money belongs to the State and just a bit of pocket money should be returned to those earning it and those you mention will probably be described as "rich toffs" who have no right to their wealth.

[Peter Pedant]

// I do understand that but if you answer the question truthfully you have not voted secretly. I am not your sweet.//

um yeah, sweetest creature, but have you noticed that some people may not answer truthfully and the pollster wouldnt know either way.

AND also - if you anxwered : "this is a secret ballot: I voted Tory"
would the pollster be justified in putting you down as voting Labour ? [ well OK not-Tory. cos if he put Tory, it would not be a secret ballot ]
Jim360 a noted intellect will perceive Lobs theorem intruding again.

DN - your sweet words drop from your lips like roses from Aphrodite's lap. I am completely entranced

[Gromit]

// Ask many people who believe that alll money belongs to the State and just a bit of pocket money should be returned to those earning it and those you mention will probably be described as "rich toffs" who have no right to their wealth. //

No one believes that all money belongs to the State. You have a very blinkered view if you think anyone who doesn't vote Tory thinks of Branson as a rich toff. Branson appears in many of his own adverts, aimed at the whole population, because he is admired by EVRYONE.

[atalanta]

Almost exactly the same thing happened in 1970. Ted Heath was the leader of the Tories, and the polls confidently predicted that he would lose. He won a decent majority. And what about Kinnock, celebrating before the "victory" which never happened ?

[AliceTickband]

I am old enuff to remember the iron lady in government *spits* and no-one round here ever admitted voting for her yet somebody must have.....darn them!!

[craft1948]

I always voted for Mrs T :-)

[naomi24]

Gromit, //I do not believe so many people would be pathetic enough to not say they were voting Conservative to stranger because of fear or stigma from that admission.//

The theory is not that admission creates stigma, but that it attracts an aggressive reaction – and it does. Just read some of the posts from left-wingers on here who find it impossible to discuss politics without referring to ‘Bullingdon Boys’, ‘Toffs’ etc., etc.

[-Talbot-]

Lol, give up naomi, the aggression from the right is just as bad as that from the left. There some people both left and right on this site that I consider ...let's say 'unbalanced' in their view of life in this fantastic kingdom of ours.

[naomi24]

Talbot, Prudie had it spot on at 15:54.

//admit you're Tory and you either have to have superb robust debating skills and/or skin as thick as an elephants or you have to accept you are a stuck up rich toff who doesn't give a toss about the sick, disabled, poor. disadvantaged or immigrants.//

[-Talbot-]

I like Prudie ( you too naomi) but I think that is nonsense.
However, I do know where you're coming from, even as someone who is nearer the left than the right. I have myself been accused of some of the things in Prudie's posts... For immigrants read 'Racist'

I don't get in a tizz about that I just think what a prat the accuser is...the vociferous lefties is just a big a bigot as the vociferous righty (righty?) IMO.

I do believe though that anyone who believes a real Tory cares about the man on the street is seriously deluded.


Ps
I am on my 3rd bottle of wine ;0) (just in case you are wondering why I am rambling)

[Gavmacp]

My friends and I were discussing who we were going to vote for. Most of us have never voted Tory but we all said that it was a possibility. In the end most of us didn't. The reason we may of voted Tory is that we trusted them with the economy, the reason we didn't is their record with the poor, disabled etc.

[Prudie]

I think I was referring to this kind of thread
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/ChatterBank/Question1418618.html
Apologies to 10Clarion, not singling him out, as this is just a good example of a host of similar threads on AB lately. I admit there are right wing ranters too but they tend to be stalwarts of the news section and receive a fair deal of ridicule that doesn't appear to bother them.
Talbot I hope you are a nice 3 bottler 'cos I like you too.

[-Talbot-]

I'm a nice drunk full stop, Prudie.

[ichkeria]

The Tories' owns polls, we now learn, had them running at 300-306 seats.

Presumably they didn't believe them though :-)

I don't buy the "ashamed to be a Tory" thing. Not when it comes down to a telephone poll. It's a voice on the other end of a phone you'll never see or probably ever speak to again. The more likely explanation is probably to do with them not factoring in "don't knows" or "undecideds" satisfactorily. Tory voters may well simply be less "political" or committed, and consequently much more like to form a large percentage of the "last minuters"