Have You Ever Changed Your Political Allegiance?

[naomi24]

During a conversation in News the other day, I said I know many people who have changed their political allegiance from Labour to Conservative, but none at all who have swapped from Conservative to Labour. Floating voters aside, have you changed your political allegiance – and if so in which direction, and why? (After a lifetime voting Labour, Tony Blair succeeded in teaching me to vote Conservative).

[JoolsTwo]

I'm a floating voter, always have been. I have now faith in any of the parties at the moment but I think I will be voting UKIP for the next General Election.

[keyplus90]

I voted conservatives too last time and that was mainly due to the actions of Tony Blair. However, once I did vote BNP too in the local elections.

[seadogg]

Iraq did it for me with Mr Blair and his ilk. I resigned promptly.

[askyourgran]

My parents were always Labour voters. It seemed to be the popular party for working men in the forties and fifties, however I've always voted Conservative. I disliked the unions' bullying tactics and still do, and Blair and Brown convinced me that the Labour party were not working for everyone. Only recently did I toy with the idea of voting Ukip at the next election, but still not convinced about their policies.

[China Doll]

Parents were always labour voters, I have left leanings but have never voted for labour since 'new labour' and switched to liberal democrats - now I genuinely have no idea who I would vote for in general election and it's highly likely I won't vote at all, not one party has even remotely inspired me.

[mikey4444]

Naomi...I am not sure about the bit where you say "but none at all who have swapped from Conservative to Labour"

How else could we account for the massive landslide of May 1997 ? The Tories lost 178 seats and Labour gained 145 ! These can't all have come from floating voters surely ?

You may not want to answer this and I will understand if you don't but how did you vote in 1997 ? For my part I have always voted Labour, even when it wasn't fashionable.

[mikey4444]

askyourgran. I am puzzled why you have considered voting for UKIP ? What would be the point, when they have zero chance of forming a Government ? Voting for a no-hope party might make you feel better but it would be a wasted vote.

You say that you are not convinced as to their polices......well, neither are UKIP !

[mikey4444]

JoolsTwo...same to you. What is the point in voting for a party that has no hope whatsoever in forming a Government ? I am genuinely puzzled !

[naomi24]

Mikey, I did say ‘floating voters aside’. I assure you I know no habitual Conservative voter who has changed their allegiance from Conservative to Labour – but after the long years of the New Labour administration, I know many life-long Labour voters who, like me, have swapped to the Conservatives.

I’m happy to answer your question. In 1997 I voted for Tony Blair and New Labour – until then I had never voted any other way. ‘Things can only get better’? They didn’t - and I would never support the Labour party again. New Labour is not the party of the working man.

[emmie]

nope.

[LazyGun]

"New Labour is not the party of the working man."

Since New Labour was an exercise in adopting conservative values and "moving to the centre" that would also exclude the tories as the party of the working man as well, then.

[naomi24]

Personally I think the Conservatives are far more supportive of the ‘working’ man.

[LazyGun]

"Personally I think the Conservatives are far more supportive of the ‘working’ man"

Personally I vehemently disagree.

[naomi24]

Fair enough. You're at liberty to disagree.

[LazyGun]

I know.

[emmie]

Naomi and so do i. I suppose i was rather more liberal in my views, and not overtly political, i did vote but no actual thoughts about it until i became interested in politics, voting system, and how the Labour bods, not just the politicians were running the country, then i rather switched tack,
and i didn't get the Tories i voted for, but a mish mash of Tory/Lib Dem
not sure how will vote next year,

[mikey4444]

naomi...thanks for your honest answer. I understand why you did what you did, although I obviously don't share your view.

But I am unsure about your assertion regards Conservative to Labour. A lot is said about floating voters but in actual fact they are not really a huge number. But floating voters alone cannot alone be held responsible for the landslide of 1997. People deserted the Tories in droves, and voted for Labour. No other explanation is possible to explain the results that May.

Those same voters stayed with Labour again in 2001, where Labour again held a huge majority. It was only in 2005 that we saw the Tories begin to fight back.

So where did all those Labour votes come from in 1997, if it wasn't from the Tories ? It can't be that more people voted in 1997, as the popular vote
actually went down.

See this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_1997

In 1992 the popular vote amongst the 3 main parties was 31,652,875. But in 1997, it dropped to 28,362,051. So it can't have been "new" voters that made the difference in 1997, ie ones that didn't vote in 1992, so therefore the Labour victory was largely achieved by Tory voters changing to Labour.

The maths don't lie !

[naomi24]

Mikey, people who change their vote one way – and then another – and then back again are floating voters. Labour had a landslide in 1997 – but it didn’t happen in 2010.

[mikey4444]

No but it did in 1997. I was refuting your claim that few people changed from Tory to Labour. They must have done otherwise Labour wouldn't have won with such a huge majority in 1997.