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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Swinson is polling better amongst CON Remainers than Johnson w

SystemSystem Posts: 11,007
edited August 2019 in General

imagepoliticalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Swinson is polling better amongst CON Remainers than Johnson while Farage has a big lead over Corbyn with LAB leavers

One of the really great thing about Opinium polls for the Observer is the way they present their data including crossheads that other pollsters don’t manage to produce.

Read the full story here


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Comments

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    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,095
    If your only source of political news was pb.com. you'd think those were terrifically good numbers for Boris.....
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    If the Smithson theory is right that leader ratings are often a better guide to election outcomes than straight voting intentions, then the outlook for the Tories in any early election seems pretty good.
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    PClippPClipp Posts: 2,138
    Jo Swinson is doing very well, I think.

    By resisting any collapse into Corbyn`s open embrace, she has shown the decent Conservatives that there is no risk in falling in with the Lib Dems. There is a safe alternative to the mad and desperate John-Conservatives.

    What is missing is how the Labour remainers see Jo Swinson compared with Corbyn. I think she will be doing very well there too, despite Corbyn`s attempts to muddy the waters. Since nobody can believe a word of what Corbyn says, Labour remainers do well to settle for somebody more consistent.
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    PClippPClipp Posts: 2,138

    If your only source of political news was pb.com. you'd think those were terrifically good numbers for Boris.....

    I expect dear old HY will see them as terrifically good for the Tories, Mr Mark. Not saying much really, because he always does.
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    VerulamiusVerulamius Posts: 1,435
    It is a sunny and hot Bank Holiday and voters are not thinking about politics today.

    Normal service will slowly resume over the next fortnight.
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    dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,940
    Meanwhile. For those at a loose end, 5L Sports Xtra are playing the radio commentary of England's tenth wicket stand on a loop.
    It is really tense even though the result is known.
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    surbiton19surbiton19 Posts: 1,469
    What Mike's graphs do not say is how many Labour Leave voters are there today ? 25% of a few thousand does not mean much. This liberal use of percentages is not a good idea.
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    FPT
    kjh said:

    Philip, I've been away for a few days and although I still disagree with you on a number of things I just wanted to acknowledge that I found a particular post you did re a hard border in Ireland a few days ago very interesting and something I hadn't thought of and although I still think nothing has changed I must admit Boris is putting up a good effort.

    Thank you for the kind comment @kjh I have to say one of the things I love about this site is the array of posters views here and while its rare to see minds get changed, it is always nice to read something that makes you think of something from a different angle. I think this is one of the best sites I've ever been to for that which is why I love it so much. :)
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    ZephyrZephyr Posts: 438
    On topic.
    A 2nd ref this autumn will either confirm and renew the 2016 vote or prove the big majority of voters actually comfortable in pooling some sovereignty and no more than 0.7 of GDP to be member of the world’s largest trading bloc with over 500 million consumers, representing 23% of global GDP. Removal of trade barriers and greater trade efficiency’s to 44% of all UK exports. Among other benefits. A GE with Boris getting a majority doesn’t confirm that, the majority will clearly come on back of split opposition votes.

    But Boris owns every leave vote? Even those whose ideology understands brexit favours socialism rather than the business friendly conservatives?

    And Boasting about brexit bozzy mopping up the brexit party voters by outflanking the brexit party, but at what cost? How many millions of remain conservatives saying to pollsters they will vote conservative actually vote tactically against a no deal brexit in autumn GE? None at all voting for other parties Because they are scared of Corbyn? Easy equation, certainty of Boris no deal breaking the economy and making households poorer versus the possibility of labour causing just as much damage to the economy with their Keynesian economics. As soon as starting gun fired this becomes the theme of the campaign as regards vote lending, not who is clearly better loved or less hated, but who or what is most feared. And in my mind it’s a no brainier, no deal brexit and it’s supporters will take a right hammering.
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    Wulfrun_PhilWulfrun_Phil Posts: 4,597
    The really striking figures in the Opinium tables are the details of Leave supporters voting Labour in 2017, a significant group constituting about 35% of 2017 Labour voters in their sample.

    Only 39% are saying that they would still vote Labour now, but only 4% have so far switched directly to the Conservatives. The votes of the rest seem up for grabs, with 21% don't know and 24% who have switched to the Brexit Party. Amongst the same group, faced with a forced choice between Johnson and Corbyn for PM, 40% back Johnson against 27% for Corbyn. I think it reasonable to infer that all of those 27% are included in the 39% who would vote Labour now.

    As almost none of those Labour Leave voters who have deserted the party would choose Corbyn over Johnson as PM, I think that it follows that virtually none of those voters can be expected to return to backing Corbyn's party at a general election.

    Conclusion: Dire news for Labour. On top of their current support, the Conservatives have the potential to boost their vote by capturing a significant group of disaffected 2017 Labour Leave voters if:
    1. The Brexit Party is subject to a squeeze, forcing a choice between Corbyn and Johnson. (i.e. While it is fairly obvious that Conservative defectors to the Brexit Party could return home, the prospect of Labour Leave defectors to the Brexit Party following them was less obvious before studying the Opinium tables.)
    2. "Don't knows" in this group make up their minds, if they vote at all. (i.e. Contrary to the received wisdom that "don't knows" tend to return to their former party, the Opinium tables suggest that this group will behave otherwise.)
  • Options
    ParistondaParistonda Posts: 1,819
    Fpt (I've never had a First but must have several Lasts with the number of times I comment right as a new thread pops up)


    In the end it looks like Gove screwed us all over by sabotaging Boris last time. We instead pissed away three years with May. Boris may actually have been a better unifier had he won and would've probably governed more as he did London rather than his Cummings/ERG approach he's now locked in to.

    I think the split vote shares in the polls are hiding the true picture. I would expect Labour to outperform and LDs to underperform on polling day as tactical anti no deal voting kicks in, and Labour are 2nd place in more seats than LDs (assuming a prebrexit election, post brexit much harder to figure out). Boris may be able to squeeze BXP a bit further but there will be a core vote there that he won't get on-board (would expect BXP to get around 7-8%). very risky for him to go for a prebrexit ge.
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    FF43FF43 Posts: 15,692
    edited August 2019
    If you are a conservative and a Unionist, the Lib Dems are the clearly the party for you. The so called Conservative and Unionist Party is a Maoist front these days.
  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,129

    The really striking figures in the Opinium tables are the details of Leave supporters voting Labour in 2017, a significant group constituting about 35% of 2017 Labour voters in their sample.

    Only 39% are saying that they would still vote Labour now, but only 4% have so far switched directly to the Conservatives. The votes of the rest seem up for grabs, with 21% don't know and 24% who have switched to the Brexit Party. Amongst the same group, faced with a forced choice between Johnson and Corbyn for PM, 40% back Johnson against 27% for Corbyn. I think it reasonable to infer that all of those 27% are included in the 39% who would vote Labour now.

    As almost none of those Labour Leave voters who have deserted the party would choose Corbyn over Johnson as PM, I think that it follows that virtually none of those voters can be expected to return to backing Corbyn's party at a general election.

    Conclusion: Dire news for Labour. On top of their current support, the Conservatives have the potential to boost their vote by capturing a significant group of disaffected 2017 Labour Leave voters if:
    1. The Brexit Party is subject to a squeeze, forcing a choice between Corbyn and Johnson. (i.e. While it is fairly obvious that Conservative defectors to the Brexit Party could return home, the prospect of Labour Leave defectors to the Brexit Party following them was less obvious before studying the Opinium tables.)
    2. "Don't knows" in this group make up their minds, if they vote at all. (i.e. Contrary to the received wisdom that "don't knows" tend to return to their former party, the Opinium tables suggest that this group will behave otherwise.)

    What I think is becoming increasingly clear is that Labour are in a very bad place with much of the grief that they dodged in 2015 coming to fruition. At the moment I see them losing seats to the Tories, the Lib Dems, the SNP, possibly the Greens and PC as well. They have with their fence sitting upset both remainers and leavers amongst their supporters simultaneously.

    In 2015 the consensus when the election was called was that May was heading to a super majority. Ultimately the British people decided that was not a great idea and Labour was the obvious way to stop it. I suspect that much of their vote was always soft and now it has flaked away in exasperation.

    In the long run a Corbyn led Labour party getting absolutely thumped would probably be good for the party. At the moment the legends of 2015 give the harder left more credibility than they deserve. If Labour are to move back to the centre ground and become a credible party of government again the current leadership needs humiliated.
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    not_on_firenot_on_fire Posts: 4,341
    DavidL said:

    The really striking figures in the Opinium tables are the details of Leave supporters voting Labour in 2017, a significant group constituting about 35% of 2017 Labour voters in their sample.

    Only 39% are saying that they would still vote Labour now, but only 4% have so far switched directly to the Conservatives. The votes of the rest seem up for grabs, with 21% don't know and 24% who have switched to the Brexit Party. Amongst the same group, faced with a forced choice between Johnson and Corbyn for PM, 40% back Johnson against 27% for Corbyn. I think it reasonable to infer that all of those 27% are included in the 39% who would vote Labour now.

    As almost none of those Labour Leave voters who have deserted the party would choose Corbyn over Johnson as PM, I think that it follows that virtually none of those voters can be expected to return to backing Corbyn's party at a general election.

    Conclusion: Dire news for Labour. On top of their current support, the Conservatives have the potential to boost their vote by capturing a significant group of disaffected 2017 Labour Leave voters if:
    1. The Brexit Party is subject to a squeeze, forcing a choice between Corbyn and Johnson. (i.e. While it is fairly obvious that Conservative defectors to the Brexit Party could return home, the prospect of Labour Leave defectors to the Brexit Party following them was less obvious before studying the Opinium tables.)
    2. "Don't knows" in this group make up their minds, if they vote at all. (i.e. Contrary to the received wisdom that "don't knows" tend to return to their former party, the Opinium tables suggest that this group will behave otherwise.)

    What I think is becoming increasingly clear is that Labour are in a very bad place with much of the grief that they dodged in 2015 coming to fruition. At the moment I see them losing seats to the Tories, the Lib Dems, the SNP, possibly the Greens and PC as well. They have with their fence sitting upset both remainers and leavers amongst their supporters simultaneously.

    In 2015 the consensus when the election was called was that May was heading to a super majority. Ultimately the British people decided that was not a great idea and Labour was the obvious way to stop it. I suspect that much of their vote was always soft and now it has flaked away in exasperation.

    In the long run a Corbyn led Labour party getting absolutely thumped would probably be good for the party. At the moment the legends of 2015 give the harder left more credibility than they deserve. If Labour are to move back to the centre ground and become a credible party of government again the current leadership needs humiliated.
    Presume you mean 2017, not 2015?
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    surbiton19surbiton19 Posts: 1,469
    W

    The really striking figures in the Opinium tables are the details of Leave supporters voting Labour in 2017, a significant group constituting about 35% of 2017 Labour voters in their sample.

    Only 39% are saying that they would still vote Labour now, but only 4% have so far switched directly to the Conservatives. The votes of the rest seem up for grabs, with 21% don't know and 24% who have switched to the Brexit Party. Amongst the same group, faced with a forced choice between Johnson and Corbyn for PM, 40% back Johnson against 27% for Corbyn. I think it reasonable to infer that all of those 27% are included in the 39% who would vote Labour now.

    As almost none of those Labour Leave voters who have deserted the party would choose Corbyn over Johnson as PM, I think that it follows that virtually none of those voters can be expected to return to backing Corbyn's party at a general election.

    Conclusion: Dire news for Labour. On top of their current support, the Conservatives have the potential to boost their vote by capturing a significant group of disaffected 2017 Labour Leave voters if:
    1. The Brexit Party is subject to a squeeze, forcing a choice between Corbyn and Johnson. (i.e. While it is fairly obvious that Conservative defectors to the Brexit Party could return home, the prospect of Labour Leave defectors to the Brexit Party following them was less obvious before studying the Opinium tables.)
    2. "Don't knows" in this group make up their minds, if they vote at all. (i.e. Contrary to the received wisdom that "don't knows" tend to return to their former party, the Opinium tables suggest that this group will behave otherwise.)

    Why did those same voters vote Labour last time ? Corbyn was still the same Gerry Adams hugging commie. Yet 40% voted for a Corbyn led party. What has happened now which makes you think they will not do so this time ?
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    W

    The really striking figures in the Opinium tables are the details of Leave supporters voting Labour in 2017, a significant group constituting about 35% of 2017 Labour voters in their sample.

    Only 39% are saying that they would still vote Labour now, but only 4% have so far switched directly to the Conservatives. The votes of the rest seem up for grabs, with 21% don't know and 24% who have switched to the Brexit Party. Amongst the same group, faced with a forced choice between Johnson and Corbyn for PM, 40% back Johnson against 27% for Corbyn. I think it reasonable to infer that all of those 27% are included in the 39% who would vote Labour now.

    As almost none of those Labour Leave voters who have deserted the party would choose Corbyn over Johnson as PM, I think that it follows that virtually none of those voters can be expected to return to backing Corbyn's party at a general election.

    Conclusion: Dire news for Labour. On top of their current support, the Conservatives have the potential to boost their vote by capturing a significant group of disaffected 2017 Labour Leave voters if:
    1. The Brexit Party is subject to a squeeze, forcing a choice between Corbyn and Johnson. (i.e. While it is fairly obvious that Conservative defectors to the Brexit Party could return home, the prospect of Labour Leave defectors to the Brexit Party following them was less obvious before studying the Opinium tables.)
    2. "Don't knows" in this group make up their minds, if they vote at all. (i.e. Contrary to the received wisdom that "don't knows" tend to return to their former party, the Opinium tables suggest that this group will behave otherwise.)

    Why did those same voters vote Labour last time ? Corbyn was still the same Gerry Adams hugging commie. Yet 40% voted for a Corbyn led party. What has happened now which makes you think they will not do so this time ?
    1: The antisemitism scandal.
    2: The rise of the Lib Dems.

    People didn't beleive the Gerry Adams hugging commie bits despite them being true as it seems a right-wing smear and he just seemed a nice old grandpa. The last few years have made the nastiness much more real.

    There was no real alternative 2 years ago to the Tories. So if you were never going to support the Tories, Labour was the only alternative. No longer true.
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    surbiton19surbiton19 Posts: 1,469

    W

    The really striking figures in the Opinium tables are the details of Leave supporters voting Labour in 2017, a significant group constituting about 35% of 2017 Labour voters in their sample.

    Only 39% are saying that they would still vote Labour now, but only 4% have so far switched directly to the Conservatives. The votes of the rest seem up for grabs, with 21% don't know and 24% who have switched to the Brexit Party. Amongst the same group, faced with a forced choice between Johnson and Corbyn for PM, 40% back Johnson against 27% for Corbyn. I think it reasonable to infer that all of those 27% are included in the 39% who would vote Labour now.

    As almost none of those Labour Leave voters who have deserted the party would choose Corbyn over Johnson as PM, I think that it follows that virtually none of those voters can be expected to return to backing Corbyn's party at a general election.

    Conclusion: Dire news for Labour. On top of their current support, the Conservatives have the potential to boost their vote by capturing a significant group of disaffected 2017 Labour Leave voters if:
    1. The Brexit Party is subject to a squeeze, forcing a choice between Corbyn and Johnson. (i.e. While it is fairly obvious that Conservative defectors to the Brexit Party could return home, the prospect of Labour Leave defectors to the Brexit Party following them was less obvious before studying the Opinium tables.)
    2. "Don't knows" in this group make up their minds, if they vote at all. (i.e. Contrary to the received wisdom that "don't knows" tend to return to their former party, the Opinium tables suggest that this group will behave otherwise.)

    Why did those same voters vote Labour last time ? Corbyn was still the same Gerry Adams hugging commie. Yet 40% voted for a Corbyn led party. What has happened now which makes you think they will not do so this time ?
    1: The antisemitism scandal.
    2: The rise of the Lib Dems.

    People didn't beleive the Gerry Adams hugging commie bits despite them being true as it seems a right-wing smear and he just seemed a nice old grandpa. The last few years have made the nastiness much more real.

    There was no real alternative 2 years ago to the Tories. So if you were never going to support the Tories, Labour was the only alternative. No longer true.
    In 4/5 th of the seats , only Labour v Tory matters.
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    edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,141
    Labour need to do lots of local, LibDemmy campaigns, focused on their incumbent MPs. This is good because it:
    1) Shows LD-curious voters that it's Lab territory defending against a Tory
    2) Avoids talking about Corbyn too much
    3) Makes the most of Labour's strategic ambiguity on Brexit, since MPs will tend to have taken positions that play well in their seat
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    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,095

    W

    The really striking figures in the Opinium tables are the details of Leave supporters voting Labour in 2017, a significant group constituting about 35% of 2017 Labour voters in their sample.

    Only 39% are saying that they would still vote Labour now, but only 4% have so far switched directly to the Conservatives. The votes of the rest seem up for grabs, with 21% don't know and 24% who have switched to the Brexit Party. Amongst the same group, faced with a forced choice between Johnson and Corbyn for PM, 40% back Johnson against 27% for Corbyn. I think it reasonable to infer that all of those 27% are included in the 39% who would vote Labour now.

    As almost none of those Labour Leave voters who have deserted the party would choose Corbyn over Johnson as PM, I think that it follows that virtually none of those voters can be expected to return to backing Corbyn's party at a general election.

    Conclusion: Dire news for Labour. On top of their current support, the Conservatives have the potential to boost their vote by capturing a significant group of disaffected 2017 Labour Leave voters if:
    1. The Brexit Party is subject to a squeeze, forcing a choice between Corbyn and Johnson. (i.e. While it is fairly obvious that Conservative defectors to the Brexit Party could return home, the prospect of Labour Leave defectors to the Brexit Party following them was less obvious before studying the Opinium tables.)
    2. "Don't knows" in this group make up their minds, if they vote at all. (i.e. Contrary to the received wisdom that "don't knows" tend to return to their former party, the Opinium tables suggest that this group will behave otherwise.)

    Why did those same voters vote Labour last time ? Corbyn was still the same Gerry Adams hugging commie. Yet 40% voted for a Corbyn led party. What has happened now which makes you think they will not do so this time ?
    1: The antisemitism scandal.
    2: The rise of the Lib Dems.

    People didn't beleive the Gerry Adams hugging commie bits despite them being true as it seems a right-wing smear and he just seemed a nice old grandpa. The last few years have made the nastiness much more real.

    There was no real alternative 2 years ago to the Tories. So if you were never going to support the Tories, Labour was the only alternative. No longer true.
    In 4/5 th of the seats , only Labour v Tory matters.
    Which is very bad news for anti-semite nasty Labour.
  • Options
    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,095
    FF43 said:

    If you are a conservative and a Unionist, the Lib Dems are the clearly the party for you. The so called Conservative and Unionist Party is a Maoist front these days.

    There's only one front-bencher in Westminster who has wielded the Little Red Book from the Green Benches. And he ain't a Tory.....
  • Options
    eekeek Posts: 24,932

    W

    The really striking figures in the Opinium tables are the details of Leave supporters voting Labour in 2017, a significant group constituting about 35% of 2017 Labour voters in their sample.

    Only 39% are saying that they would still vote Labour now, but only 4% have so far switched directly to the Conservatives. The votes of the rest seem up for grabs, with 21% don't know and 24% who have switched to the Brexit Party. Amongst the same group, faced with a forced choice between Johnson and Corbyn for PM, 40% back Johnson against 27% for Corbyn. I think it reasonable to infer that all of those 27% are included in the 39% who would vote Labour now.

    As almost none of those Labour Leave voters who have deserted the party would choose Corbyn over Johnson as PM, I think that it follows that virtually none of those voters can be expected to return to backing Corbyn's party at a general election.

    Conclusion: Dire news for Labour. On top of their current support, the Conservatives have the potential to boost their vote by capturing a significant group of disaffected 2017 Labour Leave voters if:
    1. The Brexit Party is subject to a squeeze, forcing a choice between Corbyn and Johnson. (i.e. While it is fairly obvious that Conservative defectors to the Brexit Party could return home, the prospect of Labour Leave defectors to the Brexit Party following them was less obvious before studying the Opinium tables.)
    2. "Don't knows" in this group make up their minds, if they vote at all. (i.e. Contrary to the received wisdom that "don't knows" tend to return to their former party, the Opinium tables suggest that this group will behave otherwise.)

    Why did those same voters vote Labour last time ? Corbyn was still the same Gerry Adams hugging commie. Yet 40% voted for a Corbyn led party. What has happened now which makes you think they will not do so this time ?
    1: The antisemitism scandal.
    2: The rise of the Lib Dems.

    People didn't beleive the Gerry Adams hugging commie bits despite them being true as it seems a right-wing smear and he just seemed a nice old grandpa. The last few years have made the nastiness much more real.

    There was no real alternative 2 years ago to the Tories. So if you were never going to support the Tories, Labour was the only alternative. No longer true.
    In 4/5 th of the seats , only Labour v Tory matters.
    Which is very bad news for anti-semite nasty Labour.
    Is it? For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.
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    W

    The really striking figures in the Opinium tables are the details of Leave supporters voting Labour in 2017, a significant group constituting about 35% of 2017 Labour voters in their sample.

    Only 39% are saying that they would still vote Labour now, but only 4% have so far switched directly to the Conservatives. The votes of the rest seem up for grabs, with 21% don't know and 24% who have switched to the Brexit Party. Amongst the same group, faced with a forced choice between Johnson and Corbyn for PM, 40% back Johnson against 27% for Corbyn. I think it reasonable to infer that all of those 27% are included in the 39% who would vote Labour now.

    As almost none of those Labour Leave voters who have deserted the party would choose Corbyn over Johnson as PM, I think that it follows that virtually none of those voters can be expected to return to backing Corbyn's party at a general election.

    Conclusion: Dire news for Labour. On top of their current support, the Conservatives have the potential to boost their vote by capturing a significant group of disaffected 2017 Labour Leave voters if:
    1. The Brexit Party is subject to a squeeze, forcing a choice between Corbyn and Johnson. (i.e. While it is fairly obvious that Conservative defectors to the Brexit Party could return home, the prospect of Labour Leave defectors to the Brexit Party following them was less obvious before studying the Opinium tables.)
    2. "Don't knows" in this group make up their minds, if they vote at all. (i.e. Contrary to the received wisdom that "don't knows" tend to return to their former party, the Opinium tables suggest that this group will behave otherwise.)

    Why did those same voters vote Labour last time ? Corbyn was still the same Gerry Adams hugging commie. Yet 40% voted for a Corbyn led party. What has happened now which makes you think they will not do so this time ?
    1: The antisemitism scandal.
    2: The rise of the Lib Dems.

    People didn't beleive the Gerry Adams hugging commie bits despite them being true as it seems a right-wing smear and he just seemed a nice old grandpa. The last few years have made the nastiness much more real.

    There was no real alternative 2 years ago to the Tories. So if you were never going to support the Tories, Labour was the only alternative. No longer true.
    In 4/5 th of the seats , only Labour v Tory matters.
    And if erstwhile Labour supporters decide to vote for "those nice Lib Dems" rather than antisemitic nasty Labour then that is good news for the Tories.
  • Options
    YorkcityYorkcity Posts: 4,382

    W

    The really striking figures in the Opinium tables are the details of Leave supporters voting Labour in 2017, a significant group constituting about 35% of 2017 Labour voters in their sample.

    Only 39% are saying that they would still vote Labour now, but only 4% have so far switched directly to the Conservatives. The votes of the rest seem up for grabs, with 21% don't know and 24% who have switched to the Brexit Party. Amongst the same group, faced with a forced choice between Johnson and Corbyn for PM, 40% back Johnson against 27% for Corbyn. I think it reasonable to infer that all of those 27% are included in the 39% who would vote Labour now.

    As almost none of those Labour Leave voters who have deserted the party would choose Corbyn over Johnson as PM, I think that it follows that virtually none of those voters can be expected to return to backing Corbyn's party at a general election.

    Conclusion: Dire news for Labour. On top of their current support, the Conservatives have the potential to boost their vote by capturing a significant group of disaffected 2017 Labour Leave voters if:
    1. The Brexit Party is subject to a squeeze, forcing a choice between Corbyn and Johnson. (i.e. While it is fairly obvious that Conservative defectors to the Brexit Party could return home, the prospect of Labour Leave defectors to the Brexit Party following them was less obvious before studying the Opinium tables.)
    2. "Don't knows" in this group make up their minds, if they vote at all. (i.e. Contrary to the received wisdom that "don't knows" tend to return to their former party, the Opinium tables suggest that this group will behave otherwise.)

    Why did those same voters vote Labour last time ? Corbyn was still the same Gerry Adams hugging commie. Yet 40% voted for a Corbyn led party. What has happened now which makes you think they will not do so this time ?
    1: The antisemitism scandal.
    2: The rise of the Lib Dems.

    People didn't beleive the Gerry Adams hugging commie bits despite them being true as it seems a right-wing smear and he just seemed a nice old grandpa. The last few years have made the nastiness much more real.

    There was no real alternative 2 years ago to the Tories. So if you were never going to support the Tories, Labour was the only alternative. No longer true.
    In 4/5 th of the seats , only Labour v Tory matters.
    And if erstwhile Labour supporters decide to vote for "those nice Lib Dems" rather than antisemitic nasty Labour then that is good news for the Tories.
    True the racist liar wins.
    Happy days for the Lib Dems.
  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,129

    DavidL said:

    The really striking figures in the Opinium tables are the details of Leave supporters voting Labour in 2017, a significant group constituting about 35% of 2017 Labour voters in their sample.

    Only 39% are saying that they would still vote Labour now, but only 4% have so far switched directly to the Conservatives. The votes of the rest seem up for grabs, with 21% don't know and 24% who have switched to the Brexit Party. Amongst the same group, faced with a forced choice between Johnson and Corbyn for PM, 40% back Johnson against 27% for Corbyn. I think it reasonable to infer that all of those 27% are included in the 39% who would vote Labour now.

    As almost none of those Labour Leave voters who have deserted the party would choose Corbyn over Johnson as PM, I think that it follows that virtually none of those voters can be expected to return to backing Corbyn's party at a general election.

    Conclusion: Dire news for Labour. On top of their current support, the Conservatives have the potential to boost their vote by capturing a significant group of disaffected 2017 Labour Leave voters if:
    1. The Brexit Party is subject to a squeeze, forcing a choice between Corbyn and Johnson. (i.e. While it is fairly obvious that Conservative defectors to the Brexit Party could return home, the prospect of Labour Leave defectors to the Brexit Party following them was less obvious before studying the Opinium tables.)
    2. "Don't knows" in this group make up their minds, if they vote at all. (i.e. Contrary to the received wisdom that "don't knows" tend to return to their former party, the Opinium tables suggest that this group will behave otherwise.)

    What I think is becoming increasingly clear is that Labour are in a very bad place with much of the grief that they dodged in 2015 coming to fruition. At the moment I see them losing seats to the Tories, the Lib Dems, the SNP, possibly the Greens and PC as well. They have with their fence sitting upset both remainers and leavers amongst their supporters simultaneously.

    In 2015 the consensus when the election was called was that May was heading to a super majority. Ultimately the British people decided that was not a great idea and Labour was the obvious way to stop it. I suspect that much of their vote was always soft and now it has flaked away in exasperation.

    In the long run a Corbyn led Labour party getting absolutely thumped would probably be good for the party. At the moment the legends of 2015 give the harder left more credibility than they deserve. If Labour are to move back to the centre ground and become a credible party of government again the current leadership needs humiliated.
    Presume you mean 2017, not 2015?
    Yes, that was silly.
  • Options
    justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527

    W

    The really striking figures in the Opinium tables are the details of Leave supporters voting Labour in 2017, a significant group constituting about 35% of 2017 Labour voters in their sample.

    Only 39% are saying that they would still vote Labour now, but only 4% have so far switched directly to the Conservatives. The votes of the rest seem up for grabs, with 21% don't know and 24% who have switched to the Brexit Party. Amongst the same group, faced with a forced choice between Johnson and Corbyn for PM, 40% back Johnson against 27% for Corbyn. I think it reasonable to infer that all of those 27% are included in the 39% who would vote Labour now.

    As almost none of those Labour Leave voters who have deserted the party would choose Corbyn over Johnson as PM, I think that it follows that virtually none of those voters can be expected to return to backing Corbyn's party at a general election.

    Conclusion: Dire news for Labour. On top of their current support, the Conservatives have the potential to boost their vote by capturing a significant group of disaffected 2017 Labour Leave voters if:
    1. The Brexit Party is subject to a squeeze, forcing a choice between Corbyn and Johnson. (i.e. While it is fairly obvious that Conservative defectors to the Brexit Party could return home, the prospect of Labour Leave defectors to the Brexit Party following them was less obvious before studying the Opinium tables.)
    2. "Don't knows" in this group make up their minds, if they vote at all. (i.e. Contrary to the received wisdom that "don't knows" tend to return to their former party, the Opinium tables suggest that this group will behave otherwise.)

    Why did those same voters vote Labour last time ? Corbyn was still the same Gerry Adams hugging commie. Yet 40% voted for a Corbyn led party. What has happened now which makes you think they will not do so this time ?
    1: The antisemitism scandal.
    2: The rise of the Lib Dems.

    People didn't beleive the Gerry Adams hugging commie bits despite them being true as it seems a right-wing smear and he just seemed a nice old grandpa. The last few years have made the nastiness much more real.

    There was no real alternative 2 years ago to the Tories. So if you were never going to support the Tories, Labour was the only alternative. No longer true.
    But that was not how things appeared in late April 2017 at the beginning of the campaign.Quite a bit of talk then of Labour falling below 20% and being overtaken by the LDs who were on 13% in some polls. How many people really believe that Swinson will outcampaign Corbyn?
  • Options
    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,095
    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
  • Options
    justin124 said:

    But that was not how things appeared in late April 2017 at the beginning of the campaign.Quite a bit of talk then of Labour falling below 20% and being overtaken by the LDs who were on 13% in some polls. How many people really believe that Swinson will outcampaign Corbyn?

    There was not much talk about the LDs at that time, in fact the talk was pretty much "how humongous will May's majority be" and the LDs were rather ignored. The result was of course voters retreated from giving May a majority and Corbyn got away without being scrutinised.

    This time Corbyn will need to be scrutinised and I don't think he'll be given the benefit of the doubt as last time.
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    ZephyrZephyr Posts: 438
    edited August 2019

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
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    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 53,920
    edited August 2019
    justin124 said:

    W

    1: The antisemitism scandal.
    2: The rise of the Lib Dems.

    People didn't beleive the Gerry Adams hugging commie bits despite them being true as it seems a right-wing smear and he just seemed a nice old grandpa. The last few years have made the nastiness much more real.

    There was no real alternative 2 years ago to the Tories. So if you were never going to support the Tories, Labour was the only alternative. No longer true.

    But that was not how things appeared in late April 2017 at the beginning of the campaign.Quite a bit of talk then of Labour falling below 20% and being overtaken by the LDs who were on 13% in some polls. How many people really believe that Swinson will outcampaign Corbyn?
    You're suffering from recency bias. I.e. overweighting the most recent data point, and excluding earlier ones.

    If you look at the last, say, eight UK General Elections, then pattern is for the third/fourth party to benefit from increased coverage during the campaign. Now, this is by no means universal. But assuming that, because something happened last time, it will definitely happen again seems at best complacent.
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    YorkcityYorkcity Posts: 4,382
    edited August 2019

    justin124 said:

    But that was not how things appeared in late April 2017 at the beginning of the campaign.Quite a bit of talk then of Labour falling below 20% and being overtaken by the LDs who were on 13% in some polls. How many people really believe that Swinson will outcampaign Corbyn?

    There was not much talk about the LDs at that time, in fact the talk was pretty much "how humongous will May's majority be" and the LDs were rather ignored. The result was of course voters retreated from giving May a majority and Corbyn got away without being scrutinised.

    This time Corbyn will need to be scrutinised and I don't think he'll be given the benefit of the doubt as last time.
    Corbyn was scrutinised.
    It was relentless in regard to his past.

    One could argue the manifesto was not scrutinised as in past elections.
    I do agree he will not be given the benefit of the doubt this time.
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    NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,320
    edited August 2019
    PClipp said:

    Jo Swinson is doing very well, I think.

    By resisting any collapse into Corbyn`s open embrace, she has shown the decent Conservatives that there is no risk in falling in with the Lib Dems. There is a safe alternative to the mad and desperate John-Conservatives.

    What is missing is how the Labour remainers see Jo Swinson compared with Corbyn. I think she will be doing very well there too, despite Corbyn`s attempts to muddy the waters. Since nobody can believe a word of what Corbyn says, Labour remainers do well to settle for somebody more consistent.

    The figures don't seem to bear out your partisan theory. The tables are here:

    https://www.opinium.co.uk/political-polling-21st-august-2019/

    They don't show figures for Laboure Remainers sepatately, but if you look at all Remainers:

    10% of Remainer strongly approve of Corbyn, and 16% approve.
    9% of Remainers strongly approve of Swinson and 25% approve.

    She leads him 24-21 among Remainers as "best PM", though 27% of Remainers say "Neither" and 12% say dunno. 15% say Johnson.

    However, among Labour voters he leads her by 54-9, whereas she leads him among LibDems by 62-5. So I think all the figures are showing is really that each of them is popular with most but not all of their own parties - there isn't a large chunk of voters apparently poised to switch. (Alarmingly, 6 and 8% of the two parties votes think Johnson is the best choice as PM, and 1% of LibDems would prefer Farage as PM.)
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    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,095
    Zephyr said:

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
    The Party is now institutionally anti-semitic.

    Every candidate in every constituency is going to be asked, repeatedly "Why should I vote for a racist party?"
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    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,129
    The key difference I see is that in 2017 Corbyn managed to avoid discussing Brexit to any material extent because Labour were also committed to implementing the referendum result. This rather shot May's fox and the rationale, to the extent that one ever existed, of the election in the first place. Of course if May had not run away from the debates she might have shown that there were in fact differences between her version of implementation of the referendum and his but we never really got there.

    Keeping Brexit out of the next election is looking considerably more challenging at the moment. It's not something that Corbyn wants to talk about, even now. He has found a sound bite of being opposed to no deal but that doesn't get you very far when you are still committed to leaving, just on terms that will never ever be available. Its a mess and there is going to be a lot of flak directed towards him not just from a remainer dominated media but the Lib Dems and the Greens hungry for his votes.
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    OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,919
    edited August 2019
    A significant part of the attention paid to the LibDems last time related to their leader, Farron's, religion and hence view on homosexuality. So far as I'm aware, while there's a bit of muttering about the fact that Swinson was a very junior member in the Coalition Government, there are no skeletons in her cupboard and indeed as a 'young mother making her way in a mans world' may well attract support.

    Therefore I agree with Mr T; Corbyn will be scrutinised and won't, given his shilly-shallying over both anti-semitism and Brexit, get the easy ride he had last time.

    Boris is regularly caught out lying, which doesn't seem to be causing him any problems at the moment, but in an election campaign, may well.
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    justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527

    justin124 said:

    But that was not how things appeared in late April 2017 at the beginning of the campaign.Quite a bit of talk then of Labour falling below 20% and being overtaken by the LDs who were on 13% in some polls. How many people really believe that Swinson will outcampaign Corbyn?

    There was not much talk about the LDs at that time, in fact the talk was pretty much "how humongous will May's majority be" and the LDs were rather ignored. The result was of course voters retreated from giving May a majority and Corbyn got away without being scrutinised.

    This time Corbyn will need to be scrutinised and I don't think he'll be given the benefit of the doubt as last time.
    There was a fair bit of such speculation - maybe based on wishful thinking - on this site and others. The evidence is clearly in the archives should you wish to consult it.
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    kinabalukinabalu Posts: 39,109
    Johnson lying about pork pies it would appear.

    I suppose the line that writes itself has already been posted?
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    surbiton19surbiton19 Posts: 1,469
    justin124 said:

    justin124 said:

    But that was not how things appeared in late April 2017 at the beginning of the campaign.Quite a bit of talk then of Labour falling below 20% and being overtaken by the LDs who were on 13% in some polls. How many people really believe that Swinson will outcampaign Corbyn?

    There was not much talk about the LDs at that time, in fact the talk was pretty much "how humongous will May's majority be" and the LDs were rather ignored. The result was of course voters retreated from giving May a majority and Corbyn got away without being scrutinised.

    This time Corbyn will need to be scrutinised and I don't think he'll be given the benefit of the doubt as last time.
    There was a fair bit of such speculation - maybe based on wishful thinking - on this site and others. The evidence is clearly in the archives should you wish to consult it.
    Yes, the archives is the place to look at. Remember the video which went viral. Carlotta couldn't keep up with updating us with how many views it had. Looks like each view increased the Labour vote. We should not forget Labour started with 25% and ended with 40%.
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    justin124 said:

    justin124 said:

    But that was not how things appeared in late April 2017 at the beginning of the campaign.Quite a bit of talk then of Labour falling below 20% and being overtaken by the LDs who were on 13% in some polls. How many people really believe that Swinson will outcampaign Corbyn?

    There was not much talk about the LDs at that time, in fact the talk was pretty much "how humongous will May's majority be" and the LDs were rather ignored. The result was of course voters retreated from giving May a majority and Corbyn got away without being scrutinised.

    This time Corbyn will need to be scrutinised and I don't think he'll be given the benefit of the doubt as last time.
    There was a fair bit of such speculation - maybe based on wishful thinking - on this site and others. The evidence is clearly in the archives should you wish to consult it.
    I don't remember such speculation here but if you care to post it I will concede you were right. But it wasn't particularly memorable to me.

    It mainly seemed to be about May and the Tories, the LDs were also-rans by my memory.
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    ZephyrZephyr Posts: 438

    Zephyr said:

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
    The Party is now institutionally anti-semitic.

    Every candidate in every constituency is going to be asked, repeatedly "Why should I vote for a racist party?"
    And they reply straight back, vote for me and I’ll put what is wrong right. The Labour MP in Bristol West went on a march about it, for example, every voter knows a vote for her is a vote for that fight back.

    Do you really believe the Labour Party is now institutionally racist, the evidence points to that? and that’s why they have dropped in the polls?

    They dropped in polls because of of their brexit fudging, given the oxygen of a GE the racism and nasty party smears Will be rebutted and lost in the wider noise as the tribe closes ranks.

    If it were the other way around, the party wasn’t racist but a candidate was, the candidate would be in trouble. That’s how GE work. So I ask you again, how many of the 247 Labour MPs are you claiming is racist? Because it’s the stance of that MP, on anti semitism and brexit their voters will be voting on,
  • Options
    DecrepitJohnLDecrepitJohnL Posts: 13,300

    Zephyr said:

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
    The Party is now institutionally anti-semitic.

    Every candidate in every constituency is going to be asked, repeatedly "Why should I vote for a racist party?"
    That may be true. But the question will be put to Conservatives as well. And in this age of microtargeting, Jewish voters will be told Corbyn is antisemitic, Muslim voters that Boris is Islamophobic and Black voters that Boris is racist. This is why I bet against Boris to replace May. I was sure Conservative MPs, seeing what CCHQ had done to Corbyn, would not be so damn stupid as to elect a leader vulnerable to the same attacks.
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    surbiton19surbiton19 Posts: 1,469
    DavidL said:

    The key difference I see is that in 2017 Corbyn managed to avoid discussing Brexit to any material extent because Labour were also committed to implementing the referendum result. This rather shot May's fox and the rationale, to the extent that one ever existed, of the election in the first place. Of course if May had not run away from the debates she might have shown that there were in fact differences between her version of implementation of the referendum and his but we never really got there.

    Keeping Brexit out of the next election is looking considerably more challenging at the moment. It's not something that Corbyn wants to talk about, even now. He has found a sound bite of being opposed to no deal but that doesn't get you very far when you are still committed to leaving, just on terms that will never ever be available. Its a mess and there is going to be a lot of flak directed towards him not just from a remainer dominated media but the Lib Dems and the Greens hungry for his votes.


    Labour will not keep Brexit out of the next election. It will use loudspeakers to let people know it stood for a 2nd referendum with Remain as an option. This may not satisfy die-hard Remainers like me but will satisfy about 90% of Remainers who think they will win the 2nd Ref.
    Ironically, it will also satisfy many Labour Leavers [ who are not die-hard; they have left anyway ], who do not eat and drink politics and who also believe Leave will win the 2nd referendum.
  • Options

    Zephyr said:

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
    The Party is now institutionally anti-semitic.

    Every candidate in every constituency is going to be asked, repeatedly "Why should I vote for a racist party?"
    That may be true. But the question will be put to Conservatives as well. And in this age of microtargeting, Jewish voters will be told Corbyn is antisemitic, Muslim voters that Boris is Islamophobic and Black voters that Boris is racist. This is why I bet against Boris to replace May. I was sure Conservative MPs, seeing what CCHQ had done to Corbyn, would not be so damn stupid as to elect a leader vulnerable to the same attacks.
    Boris did win multi-cultural London not once, but twice.
  • Options
    surbiton19surbiton19 Posts: 1,469

    Zephyr said:

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
    The Party is now institutionally anti-semitic.

    Every candidate in every constituency is going to be asked, repeatedly "Why should I vote for a racist party?"
    That may be true. But the question will be put to Conservatives as well. And in this age of microtargeting, Jewish voters will be told Corbyn is antisemitic, Muslim voters that Boris is Islamophobic and Black voters that Boris is racist. This is why I bet against Boris to replace May. I was sure Conservative MPs, seeing what CCHQ had done to Corbyn, would not be so damn stupid as to elect a leader vulnerable to the same attacks.
    It is not a zero sum game. Antisemitism , Islamophobia.
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    edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,141
    edited August 2019
    I wonder how the LibDems-on-Corbyn thing will play.

    IIUC Swinson has already ruled out a *coalition* with Corbyn. I'm not sure what she'll say about supporting a Corbyn minority government.

    It's a weird situation where much of the potential *Labour* voter pool also think Corbyn is bad. So maybe if she says she'll work with a Labour politician but not Jeremy Corbyn, and the polling doesn't show us anywhere near Lab Maj, that will actually boost the Labour share...
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    DecrepitJohnLDecrepitJohnL Posts: 13,300

    Zephyr said:

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
    The Party is now institutionally anti-semitic.

    Every candidate in every constituency is going to be asked, repeatedly "Why should I vote for a racist party?"
    That may be true. But the question will be put to Conservatives as well. And in this age of microtargeting, Jewish voters will be told Corbyn is antisemitic, Muslim voters that Boris is Islamophobic and Black voters that Boris is racist. This is why I bet against Boris to replace May. I was sure Conservative MPs, seeing what CCHQ had done to Corbyn, would not be so damn stupid as to elect a leader vulnerable to the same attacks.
    Boris did win multi-cultural London not once, but twice.
    That is not really the point.
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    justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527
    rcs1000 said:

    justin124 said:

    W

    1: The antisemitism scandal.
    2: The rise of the Lib Dems.

    People didn't beleive the Gerry Adams hugging commie bits despite them being true as it seems a right-wing smear and he just seemed a nice old grandpa. The last few years have made the nastiness much more real.

    There was no real alternative 2 years ago to the Tories. So if you were never going to support the Tories, Labour was the only alternative. No longer true.

    But that was not how things appeared in late April 2017 at the beginning of the campaign.Quite a bit of talk then of Labour falling below 20% and being overtaken by the LDs who were on 13% in some polls. How many people really believe that Swinson will outcampaign Corbyn?
    You're suffering from recency bias. I.e. overweighting the most recent data point, and excluding earlier ones.

    If you look at the last, say, eight UK General Elections, then pattern is for the third/fourth party to benefit from increased coverage during the campaign. Now, this is by no means universal. But assuming that, because something happened last time, it will definitely happen again seems at best complacent.
    History very rarely repeats itself, and as a committed abstainer next time via my spoilt ballot paper I have no reason to feel complacent. However, I am aware of no example of a third party reaching its peak during the election period itself.The main examples of such surges which come to mind are the Liberal surge in February 1974 - a Liberal recovery in the 1979 campaign - the 1983 Alliance surge - and the Clegg surge of 2010. Other elections saw little change or indeed a decline such as occurred in 2017.Even the 'surge' elections, though, did not see the third party match the levels of support gained earlier in those Parliaments. Thorpe's Liberals did well in February 1974 , but still fell well short of what had been suggested in by elections and Local Elections in 1973. The Alliance surge in 1983 came nowhere near what had been predicted in 1981 in the aftermath of the SDP launch and subsequent by election successes.In this Parliament, the LibDems have not really gone any higher than 20% and are currently hovering in the 15% - 19% range. I expect the calling of an election to see them fall back - we have already seen polls recording vote shares back at 13%.
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    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,576
    kinabalu said:

    Johnson lying about pork pies it would appear.

    I suppose the line that writes itself has already been posted?

    Turns out that the R4 Pork Pie Guy was mistaken and Boris, unlikely as it may seem, was right....
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    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,576
    I see the Mail are running a silly story on “Boris sidelined” for the G7 photo - he was on the edge of the group. Where the shortest serving leader should be.

    https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/world/protocol-pushes-trump-to-the-edge-of-g20-photo-1.3493260
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    justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527

    justin124 said:

    justin124 said:

    But that was not how things appeared in late April 2017 at the beginning of the campaign.Quite a bit of talk then of Labour falling below 20% and being overtaken by the LDs who were on 13% in some polls. How many people really believe that Swinson will outcampaign Corbyn?

    There was not much talk about the LDs at that time, in fact the talk was pretty much "how humongous will May's majority be" and the LDs were rather ignored. The result was of course voters retreated from giving May a majority and Corbyn got away without being scrutinised.

    This time Corbyn will need to be scrutinised and I don't think he'll be given the benefit of the doubt as last time.
    There was a fair bit of such speculation - maybe based on wishful thinking - on this site and others. The evidence is clearly in the archives should you wish to consult it.
    Yes, the archives is the place to look at. Remember the video which went viral. Carlotta couldn't keep up with updating us with how many views it had. Looks like each view increased the Labour vote. We should not forget Labour started with 25% and ended with 40%.
    With Yougov Labour started on 23% and on a GB basis ended up on 41%.
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    surbiton19surbiton19 Posts: 1,469

    I see the Mail are running a silly story on “Boris sidelined” for the G7 photo - he was on the edge of the group. Where the shortest serving leader should be.

    https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/world/protocol-pushes-trump-to-the-edge-of-g20-photo-1.3493260

    I thought the Mail was on his side.
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    NigelbNigelb Posts: 62,372

    kinabalu said:

    Johnson lying about pork pies it would appear.

    I suppose the line that writes itself has already been posted?

    Turns out that the R4 Pork Pie Guy was mistaken and Boris, unlikely as it may seem, was right....
    Up to a point, Lady C....
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    ZephyrZephyr Posts: 438

    Zephyr said:

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
    The Party is now institutionally anti-semitic.

    Every candidate in every constituency is going to be asked, repeatedly "Why should I vote for a racist party?"
    That may be true. But the question will be put to Conservatives as well. And in this age of microtargeting, Jewish voters will be told Corbyn is antisemitic, Muslim voters that Boris is Islamophobic and Black voters that Boris is racist. This is why I bet against Boris to replace May. I was sure Conservative MPs, seeing what CCHQ had done to Corbyn, would not be so damn stupid as to elect a leader vulnerable to the same attacks.
    Boris did win multi-cultural London not once, but twice.
    That was pre letter box days. You saying he would tomorrow?
  • Options
    ZephyrZephyr Posts: 438

    Zephyr said:

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
    The Party is now institutionally anti-semitic.

    Every candidate in every constituency is going to be asked, repeatedly "Why should I vote for a racist party?"
    That may be true. But the question will be put to Conservatives as well. And in this age of microtargeting, Jewish voters will be told Corbyn is antisemitic, Muslim voters that Boris is Islamophobic and Black voters that Boris is racist. This is why I bet against Boris to replace May. I was sure Conservative MPs, seeing what CCHQ had done to Corbyn, would not be so damn stupid as to elect a leader vulnerable to the same attacks.
    It is not a zero sum game. Antisemitism , Islamophobia.
    the danger Islamic phobia in the Conservative Party could start to play in the campaign, will push yet more conservative voters to other parties, most likely lib

    The bottom line I am trying to get across here is how the GE is actually platform for an MP to take a noticeable stand the voters will like to hear.

    If party’s policy puts a hospital in danger, or proposes a railroad through the village or promises an airport next door, whether the MP is out there for or against makes a difference, does it not? if anything stance against racism and brexit should bring even greater support to that MP than the party position, not less. In this way the GE becomes an opinion poll game changer from what is driving it at the moment where you hear from spokesman not the MP
  • Options
    surbiton19surbiton19 Posts: 1,469
    Nigelb said:

    kinabalu said:

    Johnson lying about pork pies it would appear.

    I suppose the line that writes itself has already been posted?

    Turns out that the R4 Pork Pie Guy was mistaken and Boris, unlikely as it may seem, was right....
    Up to a point, Lady C....
    https://twitter.com/MeltonMatthew
    So this guy is wrong ? Just asking.
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    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
    The Party is now institutionally anti-semitic.

    Every candidate in every constituency is going to be asked, repeatedly "Why should I vote for a racist party?"
    That may be true. But the question will be put to Conservatives as well. And in this age of microtargeting, Jewish voters will be told Corbyn is antisemitic, Muslim voters that Boris is Islamophobic and Black voters that Boris is racist. This is why I bet against Boris to replace May. I was sure Conservative MPs, seeing what CCHQ had done to Corbyn, would not be so damn stupid as to elect a leader vulnerable to the same attacks.
    Boris did win multi-cultural London not once, but twice.
    That was pre letter box days. You saying he would tomorrow?
    "Picaninnies" was in 2002
    Boris's first London Mayor victory was 2008
  • Options
    surbiton19surbiton19 Posts: 1,469
    edited August 2019
    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
    The Party is now institutionally anti-semitic.

    Every candidate in every constituency is going to be asked, repeatedly "Why should I vote for a racist party?"
    That may be true. But the question will be put to Conservatives as well. And in this age of microtargeting, Jewish voters will be told Corbyn is antisemitic, Muslim voters that Boris is Islamophobic and Black voters that Boris is racist. This is why I bet against Boris to replace May. I was sure Conservative MPs, seeing what CCHQ had done to Corbyn, would not be so damn stupid as to elect a leader vulnerable to the same attacks.
    It is not a zero sum game. Antisemitism , Islamophobia.
    the danger Islamic phobia in the Conservative Party could start to play in the campaign, will push yet more conservative voters to other parties, most likely lib

    The bottom line I am trying to get across here is how the GE is actually platform for an MP to take a noticeable stand the voters will like to hear.

    If party’s policy puts a hospital in danger, or proposes a railroad through the village or promises an airport next door, whether the MP is out there for or against makes a difference, does it not? if anything stance against racism and brexit should bring even greater support to that MP than the party position, not less. In this way the GE becomes an opinion poll game changer from what is driving it at the moment where you hear from spokesman not the MP
    I agree with you broadly. Labour MPs like Yvette Cooper, Mary Creagh, all the Sunderland MPs, Angela Rayner etc. all represent Leave voting constituencies. There are over a hundred Mps like them. They support the 2nd ref and Remain. They know what they are doing. Everyone is not Frit Flint.
  • Options
    Wulfrun_PhilWulfrun_Phil Posts: 4,597

    W

    The really striking figures in the Opinium tables are the details of Leave supporters voting Labour in 2017, a significant group constituting about 35% of 2017 Labour voters in their sample.

    Only 39% are saying that they would still vote Labour now, but only 4% have so far switched directly to the Conservatives. The votes of the rest seem up for grabs, with 21% don't know and 24% who have switched to the Brexit Party. Amongst the same group, faced with a forced choice between Johnson and Corbyn for PM, 40% back Johnson against 27% for Corbyn. I think it reasonable to infer that all of those 27% are included in the 39% who would vote Labour now.

    As almost none of those Labour Leave voters who have deserted the party would choose Corbyn over Johnson as PM, I think that it follows that virtually none of those voters can be expected to return to backing Corbyn's party at a general election.

    Conclusion: Dire news for Labour. On top of their current support, the Conservatives have the potential to boost their vote by capturing a significant group of disaffected 2017 Labour Leave voters if:
    1. The Brexit Party is subject to a squeeze, forcing a choice between Corbyn and Johnson. (i.e. While it is fairly obvious that Conservative defectors to the Brexit Party could return home, the prospect of Labour Leave defectors to the Brexit Party following them was less obvious before studying the Opinium tables.)
    2. "Don't knows" in this group make up their minds, if they vote at all. (i.e. Contrary to the received wisdom that "don't knows" tend to return to their former party, the Opinium tables suggest that this group will behave otherwise.)

    Why did those same voters vote Labour last time ? Corbyn was still the same Gerry Adams hugging commie. Yet 40% voted for a Corbyn led party. What has happened now which makes you think they will not do so this time ?
    The differences with 2017 are:
    1. Opinion against Corbyn has hardened - he now has the worst ratings of any opposition leader, ever.
    2. In Spring 2017, Corbyn was still a relatively new kid on the block, and views of him were not set in stone, as was proved by the recovery in his personal ratings. In Autumn 2019 he will be 4 years into his leadership, and the potential for people to change their (even more hostile) views of him is thus very much less.
    3. In 2017, Labour neutralised Brexit as an issue amongst their Leave voters. They won't be able to do the same in 2019 to appeal to their former Leave voters.

    Also, in 2017, Labour was the only tactical choice to avoid the Conservatives getting a majority, so Remain supporters voted tactically for Labour in spite of Corbyn. Now a vote for the LDs is credible. Remain voters facing less clear tactical choices will often choose a party whose leader they are ambivalent about over one whose leader they really dislike.
  • Options
    surbiton19surbiton19 Posts: 1,469

    W

    The really striking figures in the Opinium tables are the details of Leave supporters voting Labour in 2017, a significant group constituting about 35% of 2017 Labour voters in their sample.

    ……...

    As almost none of those Labour Leave voters who have deserted the party would choose Corbyn over Johnson as PM, I think that it follows that virtually none of those voters can be expected to return to backing Corbyn's party at a general election.

    Conclusion: Dire news for Labour. On top of their current support, the Conservatives have the potential to boost their vote by capturing a significant group of disaffected 2017 Labour Leave voters if:
    1. The Brexit Party is subject to a squeeze, forcing a choice between Corbyn and Johnson. (i.e. While it is fairly obvious that Conservative defectors to the Brexit Party could return home, the prospect of Labour Leave defectors to the Brexit Party following them was less obvious before studying the Opinium tables.)
    2. "Don't knows" in this group make up their minds, if they vote at all. (i.e. Contrary to the received wisdom that "don't knows" tend to return to their former party, the Opinium tables suggest that this group will behave otherwise.)

    Why did those same voters vote Labour last time ? Corbyn was still the same Gerry Adams hugging commie. Yet 40% voted for a Corbyn led party. What has happened now which makes you think they will not do so this time ?
    The differences with 2017 are:
    1. Opinion against Corbyn has hardened - he now has the worst ratings of any opposition leader, ever.
    2. In Spring 2017, Corbyn was still a relatively new kid on the block, and views of him were not set in stone, as was proved by the recovery in his personal ratings. In Autumn 2019 he will be 4 years into his leadership, and the potential for people to change their (even more hostile) views of him is thus very much less.
    3. In 2017, Labour neutralised Brexit as an issue amongst their Leave voters. They won't be able to do the same in 2019 to appeal to their former Leave voters.

    Also, in 2017, Labour was the only tactical choice to avoid the Conservatives getting a majority, so Remain supporters voted tactically for Labour in spite of Corbyn. Now a vote for the LDs is credible. Remain voters facing less clear tactical choices will often choose a party whose leader they are ambivalent about over one whose leader they really dislike.
    You are deluding yourself. How many seats could the LDs credibly win ? I vote LD myself. 70 max ? So for Remain supporters, where with Labour they will still get a 2nd ref with Remain as an option, they will plump for that.
  • Options
    Wulfrun_PhilWulfrun_Phil Posts: 4,597

    W

    The really striking figures in the Opinium tables are the details of Leave supporters voting Labour in 2017, a significant group constituting about 35% of 2017 Labour voters in their sample.

    Only 39% are saying that they would still vote Labour now, but only 4% have so far switched directly to the Conservatives. The votes of the rest seem up for grabs, with 21% don't know and 24% who have switched to the Brexit Party. Amongst the same group, faced with a forced choice between Johnson and Corbyn for PM, 40% back Johnson against 27% for Corbyn. I think it reasonable to infer that all of those 27% are included in the 39% who would vote Labour now.

    As almost none of those Labour Leave voters who have deserted the party would choose Corbyn over Johnson as PM, I think that it follows that virtually none of those voters can be expected to return to backing Corbyn's party at a general election.

    Conclusion: Dire news for Labour. On top of their current support, the Conservatives have the potential to boost their vote by capturing a significant group of disaffected 2017 Labour Leave voters if:
    1. The Brexit Party is subject to a squeeze, forcing a choice between Corbyn and Johnson. (i.e. While it is fairly obvious that Conservative defectors to the Brexit Party could return home, the prospect of Labour Leave defectors to the Brexit Party following them was less obvious before studying the Opinium tables.)
    2. "Don't knows" in this group make up their minds, if they vote at all. (i.e. Contrary to the received wisdom that "don't knows" tend to return to their former party, the Opinium tables suggest that this group will behave otherwise.)

    Why did those same voters vote Labour last time ? Corbyn was still the same Gerry Adams hugging commie. Yet 40% voted for a Corbyn led party. What has happened now which makes you think they will not do so this time ?
    1: The antisemitism scandal.
    2: The rise of the Lib Dems.

    People didn't beleive the Gerry Adams hugging commie bits despite them being true as it seems a right-wing smear and he just seemed a nice old grandpa. The last few years have made the nastiness much more real.

    There was no real alternative 2 years ago to the Tories. So if you were never going to support the Tories, Labour was the only alternative. No longer true.
    In 4/5 th of the seats , only Labour v Tory matters.
    Mattered. Opinion has shifted, massively.
  • Options
    kinabalukinabalu Posts: 39,109
    It's no surprise at all that Labour Leavers vastly prefer Farage to Corbyn. Labour Leavers are almost exclusively white working class and almost exclusively drawn from that section of the white working class who have been left behind economically, culturally and - of most importance when it comes to being a touch ignorant and xenophobic and therefore loving the idea of a pint and some racy* banter with Nige - educationally.

    To me this gives further weight to the argument that if we get a Brexit election Labour should fight for the Remain vote and accept the potential loss of many of the above type voters. The alternative - to embrace the sort of Farage like tone which would appeal to them - would probably not work and at the same time would risk a mass defection of more enlightened Labour voters to the LDs. This could be terminal.

    We are going to have to build socialism without the proles is what I'm saying. Or without these sort of proles.

    * That’s racy not ...
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    StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146

    Shetland by-election
    (29 August; swing of 22.2 from SLD to SNP would be required to gain seat)

    SLD 4/9
    SNP 2/1

    (Smarkets)

    For some reason it doesn't seem to have grabbed the attention of the London media.
    Quelle surprise.

    That’s the kind of thing that explains why Yes is now ahead. Nobody is surprised anymore that London doesn’t give a shit.
  • Options
    ZephyrZephyr Posts: 438

    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
    The Party is now institutionally anti-semitic.

    Every candidate in every constituency is going to be asked, repeatedly "Why should I vote for a racist party?"
    That may be true. But the question will be put to Conservatives as well. And in this age of microtargeting, Jewish voters will be told Corbyn is antisemitic, Muslim voters that Boris is Islamophobic and Black voters that Boris is racist. This is why I bet against Boris to replace May. I was sure Conservative MPs, seeing what CCHQ had done to Corbyn, would not be so damn stupid as to elect a leader vulnerable to the same attacks.
    Boris did win multi-cultural London not once, but twice.
    That was pre letter box days. You saying he would tomorrow?
    "Picaninnies" was in 2002
    Boris's first London Mayor victory was 2008
    You saying he would win a London mayor race tomorrow?
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,109
    kinabalu said:

    We are going to have to build socialism without the proles is what I'm saying. Or without these sort of proles.

    You will have to dissolve the people and elect another.
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    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 53,920
    PClipp said:

    Jo Swinson is doing very well, I think.

    By resisting any collapse into Corbyn`s open embrace, she has shown the decent Conservatives that there is no risk in falling in with the Lib Dems. There is a safe alternative to the mad and desperate John-Conservatives.

    What is missing is how the Labour remainers see Jo Swinson compared with Corbyn. I think she will be doing very well there too, despite Corbyn`s attempts to muddy the waters. Since nobody can believe a word of what Corbyn says, Labour remainers do well to settle for somebody more consistent.

    Jo Swinson is benefiting from "Bollocks to Brexit". I don't think there's any real evidence that she is either benefiting, or harming, the LibDem brand.
  • Options
    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,095
    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
    The Party is now institutionally anti-semitic.

    Every candidate in every constituency is going to be asked, repeatedly "Why should I vote for a racist party?"
    That may be true. But the question will be put to Conservatives as well. And in this age of microtargeting, Jewish voters will be told Corbyn is antisemitic, Muslim voters that Boris is Islamophobic and Black voters that Boris is racist. This is why I bet against Boris to replace May. I was sure Conservative MPs, seeing what CCHQ had done to Corbyn, would not be so damn stupid as to elect a leader vulnerable to the same attacks.
    It is not a zero sum game. Antisemitism , Islamophobia.
    the danger Islamic phobia in the Conservative Party could start to play in the campaign, will push yet more conservative voters to other parties, most likely lib

    The bottom line I am trying to get across here is how the GE is actually platform for an MP to take a noticeable stand the voters will like to hear.

    If party’s policy puts a hospital in danger, or proposes a railroad through the village or promises an airport next door, whether the MP is out there for or against makes a difference, does it not? if anything stance against racism and brexit should bring even greater support to that MP than the party position, not less. In this way the GE becomes an opinion poll game changer from what is driving it at the moment where you hear from spokesman not the MP
    The people who are going to get "twitchy about islamophobia in the Conservative Party" are already in the Labour and LibDem Parties. They aren't floating voters.
  • Options
    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
    The Party is now institutionally anti-semitic.

    Every candidate in every constituency is going to be asked, repeatedly "Why should I vote for a racist party?"
    That may be true. But the question will be put to Conservatives as well. And in this age of microtargeting, Jewish voters will be told Corbyn is antisemitic, Muslim voters that Boris is Islamophobic and Black voters that Boris is racist. This is why I bet against Boris to replace May. I was sure Conservative MPs, seeing what CCHQ had done to Corbyn, would not be so damn stupid as to elect a leader vulnerable to the same attacks.
    Boris did win multi-cultural London not once, but twice.
    That was pre letter box days. You saying he would tomorrow?
    "Picaninnies" was in 2002
    Boris's first London Mayor victory was 2008
    You saying he would win a London mayor race tomorrow?
    "Look, I wouldn't trust Harriet Harman's political judgement!"
  • Options
    TheWhiteRabbitTheWhiteRabbit Posts: 12,387

    Shetland by-election
    (29 August; swing of 22.2 from SLD to SNP would be required to gain seat)

    SLD 4/9
    SNP 2/1

    (Smarkets)

    For some reason it doesn't seem to have grabbed the attention of the London media.
    Quelle surprise.

    That’s the kind of thing that explains why Yes is now ahead. Nobody is surprised anymore that London doesn’t give a shit.
    Do you think they'll take it? Must be tempting at those prices
  • Options
    StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146
    edited August 2019
    HYUFD said:

    Cicero said:

    FF43 said:

    Losses of Labour marginals to Con because of a greater LAb->LD than Con->BXP switch will be balanced by losses of Con seats to SNP and LD. Up to a point. It depends on the differential gap between the switches.

    I think it *completely* depends on the differential gap, and please note that the Tories are getting thumped in Scotland. Also places like Stroud are far from the natural Tory seat that you may think. When even Cotswold is now in play, the Conservatives are taking a very big risk indeed.

    Johnson is potentially going to be as big a vote loser for the Tories as Corbyn is for Labour. He is absolutely poisonous on the door step.
    There is a reason the Tories are getting thumped in Scotland: Scots see them for the self-interested little turds they are.
    The Tories are not getting 'thumped' in Scotland, in most polls they are still polling better in Scotland than they did in every general election from 1997 to 2017. Scottish Labour are getting thumped in Scotland but less so the Scottish Tories
    SCons getting thumped, but “less so” than saddo Leonard? Is that the best you can do? Really? Popcorn time.
  • Options
    OllyTOllyT Posts: 4,913

    PClipp said:

    Jo Swinson is doing very well, I think.

    By resisting any collapse into Corbyn`s open embrace, she has shown the decent Conservatives that there is no risk in falling in with the Lib Dems. There is a safe alternative to the mad and desperate John-Conservatives.

    What is missing is how the Labour remainers see Jo Swinson compared with Corbyn. I think she will be doing very well there too, despite Corbyn`s attempts to muddy the waters. Since nobody can believe a word of what Corbyn says, Labour remainers do well to settle for somebody more consistent.

    The figures don't seem to bear out your partisan theory. The tables are here:

    https://www.opinium.co.uk/political-polling-21st-august-2019/

    They don't show figures for Laboure Remainers sepatately, but if you look at all Remainers:

    10% of Remainer strongly approve of Corbyn, and 16% approve.
    9% of Remainers strongly approve of Swinson and 25% approve.

    She leads him 24-21 among Remainers as "best PM", though 27% of Remainers say "Neither" and 12% say dunno. 15% say Johnson.

    However, among Labour voters he leads her by 54-9, whereas she leads him among LibDems by 62-5. So I think all the figures are showing is really that each of them is popular with most but not all of their own parties - there isn't a large chunk of voters apparently poised to switch. (Alarmingly, 6 and 8% of the two parties votes think Johnson is the best choice as PM, and 1% of LibDems would prefer Farage as PM.)
    As an ex-member I am still in contact with a significant number of people who still voted Labour in 2017 despite not much liking Corbyn. For the remainers amongst them Corbyn's attitude to Brexit has been something of a tipping point.

    I don't see Corbyn benefiting from tactical voting to anything like the extent he did in 2017. A combination of the anti-semitism and Brexit issues will push many 2017 Labour voters towards the Lib Dems

    If Johnson manages to largely neutralise the BXP (Big "if" I know) then I think he will cruise home.
  • Options

    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
    The Party is now institutionally anti-semitic.

    Every candidate in every constituency is going to be asked, repeatedly "Why should I vote for a racist party?"
    That may be true. But the question will be put to Conservatives as well. And in this age of microtargeting, Jewish voters will be told Corbyn is antisemitic, Muslim voters that Boris is Islamophobic and Black voters that Boris is racist. This is why I bet against Boris to replace May. I was sure Conservative MPs, seeing what CCHQ had done to Corbyn, would not be so damn stupid as to elect a leader vulnerable to the same attacks.
    It is not a zero sum game. Antisemitism , Islamophobia.
    the danger Islamic phobia in the Conservative Party could start to play in the campaign, will push yet more conservative voters to other parties, most likely lib

    The bottom line I am trying to get across here is how the GE is actually platform for an MP to take a noticeable stand the voters will like to hear.

    If party’s policy puts a hospital in danger, or proposes a railroad through the village or promises an airport next door, whether the MP is out there for or against makes a difference, does it not? if anything stance against racism and brexit should bring even greater support to that MP than the party position, not less. In this way the GE becomes an opinion poll game changer from what is driving it at the moment where you hear from spokesman not the MP
    The people who are going to get "twitchy about islamophobia in the Conservative Party" are already in the Labour and LibDem Parties. They aren't floating voters.
    The proposed ban on incitement to “religious hatred” makes no sense unless it involves a ban on the Koran itself; and that would be pretty absurd, when you consider that the Bill's intention is to fight Islamophobia.
    - Boris in The Daily Telegraph 21 July 2005.
  • Options
    ZephyrZephyr Posts: 438

    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
    The Party is now institutionally anti-semitic.

    Every candidate in every constituency is going to be asked, repeatedly "Why should I vote for a racist party?"
    That may be true. But the question will be put to Conservatives as well. And in this age of microtargeting, Jewish voters will be told Corbyn is antisemitic, Muslim voters that Boris is Islamophobic and Black voters that Boris is racist. This is why I bet against Boris to replace May. I was sure Conservative MPs, seeing what CCHQ had done to Corbyn, would not be so damn stupid as to elect a leader vulnerable to the same attacks.
    Boris did win multi-cultural London not once, but twice.
    That was pre letter box days. You saying he would tomorrow?
    "Picaninnies" was in 2002
    Boris's first London Mayor victory was 2008
    You saying he would win a London mayor race tomorrow?
    "Look, I wouldn't trust Harriet Harman's political judgement!"
    To be fair built into the answer is who is he up against? All type elections go on cycles, Boris as a great campaigner and someone who can win in Labour areas is based on wins against Ken Livingston at the unfresh end of Livingston career with London voters looking for change.
    Although big in Westminster politics these days, Boris is no longer new or fresh in politics, does have more baggage now
    He complained about blue on blue in leadership election, but he was not really fought or tested like he will be if he makes it to the next General Election
  • Options
    RecidivistRecidivist Posts: 4,679
    kinabalu said:

    It's no surprise at all that Labour Leavers vastly prefer Farage to Corbyn. Labour Leavers are almost exclusively white working class and almost exclusively drawn from that section of the white working class who have been left behind economically, culturally and - of most importance when it comes to being a touch ignorant and xenophobic and therefore loving the idea of a pint and some racy* banter with Nige - educationally.

    To me this gives further weight to the argument that if we get a Brexit election Labour should fight for the Remain vote and accept the potential loss of many of the above type voters. The alternative - to embrace the sort of Farage like tone which would appeal to them - would probably not work and at the same time would risk a mass defection of more enlightened Labour voters to the LDs. This could be terminal.

    We are going to have to build socialism without the proles is what I'm saying. Or without these sort of proles.

    * That’s racy not ...

    Having grown up on a council estate, I think people overestimate how many of these nationalistic white working class voters with conservative social views there are. And they vastly overstate how likely they are to get out and vote.
  • Options
    Wulfrun_PhilWulfrun_Phil Posts: 4,597

    W



    Conclusion: Dire news for Labour. On top of their current support, the Conservatives have the potential to boost their vote by capturing a significant group of disaffected 2017 Labour Leave voters if:
    1. The Brexit Party is subject to a squeeze, forcing a choice between Corbyn and Johnson. (i.e. While it is fairly obvious that Conservative defectors to the Brexit Party could return home, the prospect of Labour Leave defectors to the Brexit Party following them was less obvious before studying the Opinium tables.)
    2. "Don't knows" in this group make up their minds, if they vote at all. (i.e. Contrary to the received wisdom that "don't knows" tend to return to their former party, the Opinium tables suggest that this group will behave otherwise.)

    Why did those same voters vote Labour last time ? Corbyn was still the same Gerry Adams hugging commie. Yet 40% voted for a Corbyn led party. What has happened now which makes you think they will not do so this time ?
    The differences with 2017 are:
    1. Opinion against Corbyn has hardened - he now has the worst ratings of any opposition leader, ever.
    2. In Spring 2017, Corbyn was still a relatively new kid on the block, and views of him were not set in stone, as was proved by the recovery in his personal ratings. In Autumn 2019 he will be 4 years into his leadership, and the potential for people to change their (even more hostile) views of him is thus very much less.
    3. In 2017, Labour neutralised Brexit as an issue amongst their Leave voters. They won't be able to do the same in 2019 to appeal to their former Leave voters.

    Also, in 2017, Labour was the only tactical choice to avoid the Conservatives getting a majority, so Remain supporters voted tactically for Labour in spite of Corbyn. Now a vote for the LDs is credible. Remain voters facing less clear tactical choices will often choose a party whose leader they are ambivalent about over one whose leader they really dislike.
    You are deluding yourself. How many seats could the LDs credibly win ? I vote LD myself. 70 max ? So for Remain supporters, where with Labour they will still get a 2nd ref with Remain as an option, they will plump for that.
    Save for that last paragraph, my arguments were in terms of Leave supporters.

    But regarding you last point, you are relying on all as opposed to some Remain voters seeing it your way and disregarding the Remain Alliance (from which Labour will be absent). In 1983, you could similarly make a case that the only tactical choice to avoid a Conservative majority was to vote Labour in 9/10ths of seats.
  • Options
    FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,526

    W

    The really striking figures in the Opinium tables are the details of Leave supporters voting Labour in 2017, a significant group constituting about 35% of 2017 Labour voters in their sample.

    Only 39% are saying that they would still vote Labour now, but only 4% have so far switched directly to the Conservatives. The votes of the rest seem up for grabs, with 21% don't know and 24% who have switched to the Brexit Party. Amongst the same group, faced with a forced choice between Johnson and Corbyn for PM, 40% back Johnson against 27% for Corbyn. I think it reasonable to infer that all of those 27% are included in the 39% who would vote Labour now.

    As almost none of those Labour Leave voters who have deserted the party would choose Corbyn over Johnson as PM, I think that it follows that virtually none of those voters can be expected to return to backing Corbyn's party at a general election.

    Conclusion: Dire news for Labour. On top of their current support, the Conservatives have the potential to boost their vote by capturing a significant group of disaffected 2017 Labour Leave voters if:
    1. The Brexit Party is subject to a squeeze, forcing a choice between Corbyn and Johnson. (i.e. While it is fairly obvious that Conservative defectors to the Brexit Party could return home, the prospect of Labour Leave defectors to the Brexit Party following them was less obvious before studying the Opinium tables.)
    2. "Don't knows" in this group make up their minds, if they vote at all. (i.e. Contrary to the received wisdom that "don't knows" tend to return to their former party, the Opinium tables suggest that this group will behave otherwise.)

    Why did those same voters vote Labour last time ? Corbyn was still the same Gerry Adams hugging commie. Yet 40% voted for a Corbyn led party. What has happened now which makes you think they will not do so this time ?
    1: The antisemitism scandal.
    2: The rise of the Lib Dems.

    People didn't beleive the Gerry Adams hugging commie bits despite them being true as it seems a right-wing smear and he just seemed a nice old grandpa. The last few years have made the nastiness much more real.

    There was no real alternative 2 years ago to the Tories. So if you were never going to support the Tories, Labour was the only alternative. No longer true.
    In 4/5 th of the seats , only Labour v Tory matters.
    And if erstwhile Labour supporters decide to vote for "those nice Lib Dems" rather than antisemitic nasty Labour then that is good news for the Tories.
    It depends very much where they are. Erstwhile Lab supporters and Swinson loving Tory Remainers could turn a fair bit of the Southern shires Yellow...
  • Options
    ZephyrZephyr Posts: 438
    edited August 2019

    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
    The Party is now institutionally anti-semitic.

    Every candidate in every constituency is going to be asked, repeatedly "Why should I vote for a racist party?"
    I was sure Conservative MPs, seeing what CCHQ had done to Corbyn, would not be so damn stupid as to elect a leader vulnerable to the same attacks.
    It is not a zero sum game. Antisemitism , Islamophobia.
    the danger Islamic phobia in the Conservative Party could start to play in the campaign, will push yet more conservative voters to other parties, most likely lib

    The bottom line I am trying to get across here is how the GE is actually platform for an MP to take a noticeable stand the voters will like to hear.

    If party’s policy puts a hospital in danger, or proposes a railroad through the village or promises an airport next door, whether the MP is out there for or against makes a difference, does it not? if anything stance against racism and brexit should bring even greater support to that MP than the party position, not less. In this way the GE becomes an opinion poll game changer from what is driving it at the moment where you hear from spokesman not the MP
    They aren't floating voters.
    The proposed ban on incitement to “religious hatred” makes no sense unless it involves a ban on the Koran itself; and that would be pretty absurd, when you consider that the Bill's intention is to fight Islamophobia.
    - Boris in The Daily Telegraph 21 July 2005.
    Yes. I too remember that great journalist. Before he went into politics I regularly read Boris journalism, and it was full of thoughtful liberalism and inspired insights. But the point here is Boris as politician today is not that journalist because we are not seeing either that value set nor moderation of judgement.
  • Options
    Wulfrun_PhilWulfrun_Phil Posts: 4,597
    edited August 2019
    kinabalu said:

    It's no surprise at all that Labour Leavers vastly prefer Farage to Corbyn. Labour Leavers are almost exclusively white working class and almost exclusively drawn from that section of the white working class who have been left behind economically, culturally and - of most importance when it comes to being a touch ignorant and xenophobic and therefore loving the idea of a pint and some racy* banter with Nige - educationally.

    To me this gives further weight to the argument that if we get a Brexit election Labour should fight for the Remain vote and accept the potential loss of many of the above type voters. The alternative - to embrace the sort of Farage like tone which would appeal to them - would probably not work and at the same time would risk a mass defection of more enlightened Labour voters to the LDs. This could be terminal.

    We are going to have to build socialism without the proles is what I'm saying. Or without these sort of proles.

    * That’s racy not ...

    Christ, how utterly condescending. And wrong.
  • Options
    RecidivistRecidivist Posts: 4,679

    W



    Conclusion:?

    The differences with 2017 are:
    1. Opinion against Corbyn has hardened - he now has the worst ratings of any opposition leader, ever.
    2. In Spring 2017, Corbyn was still a relatively new kid on the block, and views of him were not set in stone, as was proved by the recovery in his personal ratings. In Autumn 2019 he will be 4 years into his leadership, and the potential for people to change their (even more hostile) views of him is thus very much less.
    3. In 2017, Labour neutralised Brexit as an issue amongst their Leave voters. They won't be able to do the same in 2019 to appeal to their former Leave voters.

    Also, in 2017, Labour was the only tactical choice to avoid the Conservatives getting a majority, so Remain supporters voted tactically for Labour in spite of Corbyn. Now a vote for the LDs is credible. Remain voters facing less clear tactical choices will often choose a party whose leader they are ambivalent about over one whose leader they really dislike.
    You are deluding yourself. How many seats could the LDs credibly win ? I vote LD myself. 70 max ? So for Remain supporters, where with Labour they will still get a 2nd ref with Remain as an option, they will plump for that.
    Save for that last paragraph, my arguments were in terms of Leave supporters.

    But regarding you last point, you are relying on all as opposed to some Remain voters seeing it your way and disregarding the Remain Alliance (from which Labour will be absent). In 1983, you could similarly make a case that the only tactical choice to avoid a Conservative majority was to vote Labour in 9/10ths of seats.
    In 1983 it was an open question during the campaign as to whether or not Labour would fall to third place. At the time a lot of people thought that had the vote taken place two weeks later Labour would have lost a further 50 seats and the Alliance would have taken over as the actual opposition if not the official one. The only question next time is how do you vote to deprive the Tories of the power to take us out of Europe.
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    PClippPClipp Posts: 2,138
    rcs1000 said:

    PClipp said:

    Jo Swinson is doing very well, I think.

    By resisting any collapse into Corbyn`s open embrace, she has shown the decent Conservatives that there is no risk in falling in with the Lib Dems. There is a safe alternative to the mad and desperate John-Conservatives.

    What is missing is how the Labour remainers see Jo Swinson compared with Corbyn. I think she will be doing very well there too, despite Corbyn`s attempts to muddy the waters. Since nobody can believe a word of what Corbyn says, Labour remainers do well to settle for somebody more consistent.

    Jo Swinson is benefiting from "Bollocks to Brexit". I don't think there's any real evidence that she is either benefiting, or harming, the LibDem brand.
    But at least you will admit that the Lib Dems are now back on the map. That means that people will be paying some attention to the other things that they are saying. Give it time,Mr Smithson, give it time.....
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    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
    The Party is now institutionally anti-semitic.

    Every candidate in every constituency is going to be asked, repeatedly "Why should I vote for a racist party?"
    That may be true. But the question will be put to Conservatives as well. And in this age of microtargeting, Jewish voters will be told Corbyn is antisemitic, Muslim voters that Boris is Islamophobic and Black voters that Boris is racist. This is why I bet against Boris to replace May. I was sure Conservative MPs, seeing what CCHQ had done to Corbyn, would not be so damn stupid as to elect a leader vulnerable to the same attacks.
    Boris did win multi-cultural London not once, but twice.
    That was pre letter box days. You saying he would tomorrow?
    "Picaninnies" was in 2002
    Boris's first London Mayor victory was 2008
    You saying he would win a London mayor race tomorrow?
    "Look, I wouldn't trust Harriet Harman's political judgement!"
    To be fair built into the answer is who is he up against? All type elections go on cycles, Boris as a great campaigner and someone who can win in Labour areas is based on wins against Ken Livingston at the unfresh end of Livingston career with London voters looking for change.
    Although big in Westminster politics these days, Boris is no longer new or fresh in politics, does have more baggage now
    He complained about blue on blue in leadership election, but he was not really fought or tested like he will be if he makes it to the next General Election
    But here's old Ken - he's been crass, he's been insensitive and thuggish and brutal in his language - but I don't think actually if you read what he said, although it was extraordinary and rude, I don't think he was actually anti-Semitic.
    - Boris in The Times, 18 February 2005.
  • Options
    StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146
    edited August 2019

    If the Smithson theory is right that leader ratings are often a better guide to election outcomes than straight voting intentions, then the outlook for the Tories in any early election seems pretty good.

    Not for Ruth Davidson.

    Her ratings are mediocre, but BoZo’s are dire north of the border.
  • Options
    ZephyrZephyr Posts: 438

    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
    The Party is now institutionally anti-semitic.

    Every candidate in every constituency is going to be asked, repeatedly "Why should I vote for a racist party?"
    That may be true. But the question will be put to Conservatives as well. And in this age of microtargeting, Jewish voters will be told Corbyn is antisemitic, Muslim voters that Boris is Islamophobic and Black voters that Boris is racist. This is why I bet against Boris to replace May. I was sure Conservative MPs, seeing what CCHQ had done to Corbyn, would not be so damn stupid as to elect a leader vulnerable to the same attacks.
    Boris did win multi-cultural London not once, but twice.
    That was pre letter box days. You saying he would tomorrow?
    "Picaninnies" was in 2002
    Boris's first London Mayor victory was 2008
    You saying he would win a London mayor race tomorrow?
    "Look, I wouldn't trust Harriet Harman's political judgement!"
    To be fair built into the answer is who is he up against? All type elections go on cycles, Boris as a great campaigner and someone who can win in Labour areas is based on wins against Ken Livingston at the unfresh end of Livingston career with London voters looking for change.
    Although big in Westminster politics these days, Boris is no longer new or fresh in politics, does have more baggage now
    He complained about blue on blue in leadership election, but he was not really fought or tested like he will be if he makes it to the next General Election
    But here's old Ken - he's been crass, he's been insensitive and thuggish and brutal in his language - but I don't think actually if you read what he said, although it was extraordinary and rude, I don't think he was actually anti-Semitic.
    - Boris in The Times, 18 February 2005.
    Hang on... are you actually trying to help Boris with these posts?
  • Options
    surbiton19surbiton19 Posts: 1,469

    kinabalu said:

    It's no surprise at all that Labour Leavers vastly prefer Farage to Corbyn. Labour Leavers are almost exclusively white working class and almost exclusively drawn from that section of the white working class who have been left behind economically, culturally and - of most importance when it comes to being a touch ignorant and xenophobic and therefore loving the idea of a pint and some racy* banter with Nige - educationally.

    To me this gives further weight to the argument that if we get a Brexit election Labour should fight for the Remain vote and accept the potential loss of many of the above type voters. The alternative - to embrace the sort of Farage like tone which would appeal to them - would probably not work and at the same time would risk a mass defection of more enlightened Labour voters to the LDs. This could be terminal.

    We are going to have to build socialism without the proles is what I'm saying. Or without these sort of proles.

    * That’s racy not ...

    Christ, how utterly condescending. And wrong.
    Not wrong at all. If some proles are anti foreigner, should we just embrace them because they are working class ? I don't think so. The voters pool is a large ocean; there are plenty of fish there of all types. There are plenty of Remain types.
  • Options
    ZephyrZephyr Posts: 438

    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
    The Party is now institutionally anti-semitic.

    Every candidate in every constituency is going to be asked, repeatedly "Why should I vote for a racist party?"
    That may be true. But the question will be put to Conservatives as well. And in this age of microtargeting, Jewish voters will be told Corbyn is antisemitic, Muslim voters that Boris is Islamophobic and Black voters that Boris is racist. This is why I bet against Boris to replace May. I was sure Conservative MPs, seeing what CCHQ had done to Corbyn, would not be so damn stupid as to elect a leader vulnerable to the same attacks.
    It is not a zero sum game. Antisemitism , Islamophobia.
    the danger Islamic phobia in the Conservative Party could start to play in the campaign, will push yet more conservative voters to other parties, most likely lib

    The bottom line I am trying to get across here is how the GE is actually platform for an MP to take a noticeable stand the voters will like to hear.

    If party’s policy puts a hospital in danger, or proposes a railroad through the village or promises an airport next door, whether the MP is out there for or against makes a difference, does it not? if anything stance against racism and brexit should bring even greater support to that MP than the party position, not less. In this way the GE becomes an opinion poll game changer from what is driving it at the moment where you hear from spokesman not the MP
    The people who are going to get "twitchy about islamophobia in the Conservative Party" are already in the Labour and LibDem Parties. They aren't floating voters.
    I agree not swing voters. Conservative voters, perhaps even long time members. Voted Conservative but a remainer, and don’t like Tory islamiphobia, such people will have little problem lending libdems a vote in an autumn GE.
  • Options
    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
    The Party is now institutionally anti-semitic.

    Every candidate in every constituency is going to be asked, repeatedly "Why should I vote for a racist party?"
    Boris did win multi-cultural London not once, but twice.
    That was pre letter box days. You saying he would tomorrow?
    "Picaninnies" was in 2002
    Boris's first London Mayor victory was 2008
    You saying he would win a London mayor race tomorrow?
    "Look, I wouldn't trust Harriet Harman's political judgement!"
    To be fair built into the answer is who is he up against? All type elections go on cycles, Boris as a great campaigner and someone who can win in Labour areas is based on wins against Ken Livingston at the unfresh end of Livingston career with London voters looking for change.
    Although big in Westminster politics these days, Boris is no longer new or fresh in politics, does have more baggage now
    He complained about blue on blue in leadership election, but he was not really fought or tested like he will be if he makes it to the next General Election
    But here's old Ken - he's been crass, he's been insensitive and thuggish and brutal in his language - but I don't think actually if you read what he said, although it was extraordinary and rude, I don't think he was actually anti-Semitic.
    - Boris in The Times, 18 February 2005.
    Hang on... are you actually trying to help Boris with these posts?
    In 1904, 20 per cent of journeys were made by bicycle in London. I want to see a figure like that again. If you can't turn the clock back to 1904, what's the point of being a Conservative?
    - Boris Johnson on the Barclays Cycle Hire launch, July 2010
  • Options
    surbiton19surbiton19 Posts: 1,469
    Foxy said:

    W

    The really striking figures in the Opinium tables are the details of Leave supporters voting Labour in 2017, a significant group constituting about 35% of 2017 Labour voters in their sample.

    …………..

    As almost none of those Labour Leave voters who have deserted the party would choose Corbyn over Johnson as PM, I think that it follows that virtually none of those voters can be expected to return to backing Corbyn's party at a general election.

    Conclusion: Dire news for Labour. On top of their current support, the Conservatives have the potential to boost their vote by capturing a significant group of disaffected 2017 Labour Leave voters if:
    1. The Brexit Party is subject to a squeeze, forcing a choice between Corbyn and Johnson. (i.e. While it is fairly obvious that Conservative defectors to the Brexit Party could return home, the prospect of Labour Leave defectors to the Brexit Party following them was less obvious before studying the Opinium tables.)
    2. "Don't knows" in this group make up their minds, if they vote at all. (i.e. Contrary to the received wisdom that "don't knows" tend to return to their former party, the Opinium tables suggest that this group will behave otherwise.)

    Why did those same voters vote Labour last time ? Corbyn was still the same Gerry Adams hugging commie. Yet 40% voted for a Corbyn led party. What has happened now which makes you think they will not do so this time ?
    1: The antisemitism scandal.
    2: The rise of the Lib Dems.

    People didn't beleive the Gerry Adams hugging commie bits despite them being true as it seems a right-wing smear and he just seemed a nice old grandpa. The last few years have made the nastiness much more real.

    There was no real alternative 2 years ago to the Tories. So if you were never going to support the Tories, Labour was the only alternative. No longer true.
    In 4/5 th of the seats , only Labour v Tory matters.
    And if erstwhile Labour supporters decide to vote for "those nice Lib Dems" rather than antisemitic nasty Labour then that is good news for the Tories.
    It depends very much where they are. Erstwhile Lab supporters and Swinson loving Tory Remainers could turn a fair bit of the Southern shires Yellow...
    Exactly. I do not think much of Swinson. But I will vote Yellow. Because for me it makes sense. If I lived down the road in Mitcham, I'd vote Labour.

  • Options
    ZephyrZephyr Posts: 438

    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    Zephyr said:

    eek said:

    For a lot of people the only option is to hold their nose and to vote Labour - around here the Lib Dems get 5% of the vote and that isn't going to change enough to make them a valid option.

    Good luck on persuading OGH to vote for anti-semitic Labour in Bedford next time....
    Labour currently have 247 MPs, how many are you saying are anti Semitic?
    The Party is now institutionally anti-semitic.

    Every candidate in every constituency is going to be asked, repeatedly "Why should I vote for a racist party?"
    Boris did win multi-cultural London not once, but twice.
    That was pre letter box days. You saying he would tomorrow?
    "Picaninnies" was in 2002
    Boris's first London Mayor victory was 2008
    You saying he would win a London mayor race tomorrow?
    "Look, I wouldn't trust Harriet Harman's political judgement!"
    To be fair built into the answer is who is he up against? All type elections go on cycles, Boris as a great campaigner and someone who can win in Labour areas is based on wins against Ken Livingston at the unfresh end of Livingston career with London voters looking for change.
    Although big in Westminster politics these days, Boris is no longer new or fresh in politics, does have more baggage now
    He complained about blue on blue in leadership election, but he was not really fought or tested like he will be if he makes it to the next General Election
    But here's old Ken - he's been crass, he's been insensitive and thuggish and brutal in his language - but I don't think actually if you read what he said, although it was extraordinary and rude, I don't think he was actually anti-Semitic.
    - Boris in The Times, 18 February 2005.
    Hang on... are you actually trying to help Boris with these posts?
    In 1904, 20 per cent of journeys were made by bicycle in London. I want to see a figure like that again. If you can't turn the clock back to 1904, what's the point of being a Conservative?
    - Boris Johnson on the Barclays Cycle Hire launch, July 2010
    Also a great journalist does not a great political leader make. Political leaders are melancholic and sanguine, Boris is choleric.
  • Options
    surbiton19surbiton19 Posts: 1,469

    W



    :
    1. The Brexit Party is subject to a squeeze, forcing a choice between Corbyn and Johnson. (i.e. While it is fairly obvious that Conservative defectors to the Brexit Party could return home, the prospect of Labour Leave defectors to the Brexit Party following them was less obvious before studying the Opinium tables.)
    2. "Don't knows" in this group make up their minds, if they vote at all. (i.e. Contrary to the received wisdom that "don't knows" tend to return to their former party, the Opinium tables suggest that this group will behave otherwise.)

    Why did those same voters vote Labour last time ? Corbyn was still the same Gerry Adams hugging commie. Yet 40% voted for a Corbyn led party. What has happened now which makes you think they will not do so this time ?
    The differences with 2017 are:
    1. Opinion against Corbyn has hardened - he now has the worst ratings of any opposition leader, ever.
    2. In Spring 2017, Corbyn was still a relatively new kid on the block, and views of him were not set in stone, as was proved by the recovery in his personal ratings. In Autumn 2019 he will be 4 years into his leadership, and the potential for people to change their (even more hostile) views of him is thus very much less.
    3. In 2017, Labour neutralised Brexit as an issue amongst their Leave voters. They won't be able to do the same in 2019 to appeal to their former Leave voters.

    Also, in 2017, Labour was the only tactical choice to avoid the Conservatives getting a majority, so Remain supporters voted tactically for Labour in spite of Corbyn. Now a vote for the LDs is credible. Remain voters facing less clear tactical choices will often choose a party whose leader they are ambivalent about over one whose leader they really dislike.
    You are deluding yourself. How many seats could the LDs credibly win ? I vote LD myself. 70 max ? So for Remain supporters, where with Labour they will still get a 2nd ref with Remain as an option, they will plump for that.

    Save for that last paragraph, my arguments were in terms of Leave supporters.

    But regarding you last point, you are relying on all as opposed to some Remain voters seeing it your way and disregarding the Remain Alliance (from which Labour will be absent). In 1983, you could similarly make a case that the only tactical choice to avoid a Conservative majority was to vote Labour in 9/10ths of seats.
    The Brexit split is far more fundamental than anything then. It is about values of internationalism verses narrow minded Little Englander philosophy.

  • Options
    kinabalukinabalu Posts: 39,109

    Having grown up on a council estate, I think people overestimate how many of these nationalistic white working class voters with conservative social views there are. And they vastly overstate how likely they are to get out and vote.

    Those are my roots too. Working class. Rotherham.

    And I think you're right about the not voting in this GE that we are all so excited about.

    Hope you are right because my hopes of a Tory defeat rest upon exactly that.

    But regarding what drives these 'types' to support Brexit - and to like Farage - my personal hometown exposure (which is still substantial) tells me it is one thing above all else - IMMIGRATION - and it tells me that without a shadow of a doubt.
  • Options
    Wulfrun_PhilWulfrun_Phil Posts: 4,597

    kinabalu said:

    It's no surprise at all that Labour Leavers vastly prefer Farage to Corbyn. Labour Leavers are almost exclusively white working class and almost exclusively drawn from that section of the white working class who have been left behind economically, culturally and - of most importance when it comes to being a touch ignorant and xenophobic and therefore loving the idea of a pint and some racy* banter with Nige - educationally.

    To me this gives further weight to the argument that if we get a Brexit election Labour should fight for the Remain vote and accept the potential loss of many of the above type voters. The alternative - to embrace the sort of Farage like tone which would appeal to them - would probably not work and at the same time would risk a mass defection of more enlightened Labour voters to the LDs. This could be terminal.

    We are going to have to build socialism without the proles is what I'm saying. Or without these sort of proles.

    * That’s racy not ...

    Christ, how utterly condescending. And wrong.
    Not wrong at all. If some proles are anti foreigner, should we just embrace them because they are working class ? I don't think so. The voters pool is a large ocean; there are plenty of fish there of all types. There are plenty of Remain types.
    Since that's your view, you can share this thread with your own folk henceforth. Talk amongst yourselves.
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    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,159
    Warren is engaging in major out-reach to Dem officials and key supporters. Many of whom will be SuperDelegates:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/us/politics/elizabeth-warren-democrats.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage
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    ZephyrZephyr Posts: 438
    It’s not often I agree with HY, but HY is right, Warren can’t beat Trump.

    Remember trump won not by being popular or likable, but his opponent being hated. Whoever gets the dem ticket, trump team will go all out to make that person a hated figure too. So I say ignore their polling and status in the betting, pick which one most looks made of Teflon. HY is absolutely right. Warren would be slaughtered in an election against Trump, her policy platform is full of holes, and Warren herself unlikable. She’s not nearly Teflon enough for what the Trump campaign will do to her.

    HY is wrong, gaff prone Biden is too old and confused to be commander in chief, on these grounds he is easily dismantled.
  • Options
    kinabalukinabalu Posts: 39,109

    Christ, how utterly condescending. And wrong.

    Nonsense. You're being far too squeamish. I know these people. They like to call a spade a spade.

    Which must be where I get it from.
  • Options
    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,159
    Zephyr said:

    It’s not often I agree with HY, but HY is right, Warren can’t beat Trump.

    Remember trump won not by being popular or likable, but his opponent being hated. Whoever gets the dem ticket, trump team will go all out to make that person a hated figure too. So I say ignore their polling and status in the betting, pick which one most looks made of Teflon. HY is absolutely right. Warren would be slaughtered in an election against Trump, her policy platform is full of holes, and Warren herself unlikable. She’s not nearly Teflon enough for what the Trump campaign will do to her.

    HY is wrong, gaff prone Biden is too old and confused to be commander in chief, on these grounds he is easily dismantled.
    I want Trump beaten and I have grave concerns on that front about Warren. But she certainly has some mo at the moment. But a long race ahead.
  • Options
    kinabalukinabalu Posts: 39,109
    ydoethur said:

    You will have to dissolve the people and elect another.

    That’s not your best. It's trite.

    It's about putting together a coalition of voters that is broad enough to win.

    I think Corbyn can do it in a pre Brexit election if Labour offer Ref2.

    In a post Brexit election I give him little chance.
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 91,625

    DavidL said:

    The key difference I see is that in 2017 Corbyn managed to avoid discussing Brexit to any material extent because Labour were also committed to implementing the referendum result. This rather shot May's fox and the rationale, to the extent that one ever existed, of the election in the first place. Of course if May had not run away from the debates she might have shown that there were in fact differences between her version of implementation of the referendum and his but we never really got there.

    Keeping Brexit out of the next election is looking considerably more challenging at the moment. It's not something that Corbyn wants to talk about, even now. He has found a sound bite of being opposed to no deal but that doesn't get you very far when you are still committed to leaving, just on terms that will never ever be available. Its a mess and there is going to be a lot of flak directed towards him not just from a remainer dominated media but the Lib Dems and the Greens hungry for his votes.


    Labour will not keep Brexit out of the next election. It will use loudspeakers to let people know it stood for a 2nd referendum with Remain as an option. This may not satisfy die-hard Remainers like me but will satisfy about 90% of Remainers who think they will win the 2nd Ref.
    Ironically, it will also satisfy many Labour Leavers [ who are not die-hard; they have left anyway ], who do not eat and drink politics and who also believe Leave will win the 2nd referendum.
    I agree, I think people are overestimating the negative impact of Labour's kind of fudge (it's not as fudgey as it once was), particularly in a forced 2 party situation in many places.
  • Options
    eekeek Posts: 24,932
    kinabalu said:

    Having grown up on a council estate, I think people overestimate how many of these nationalistic white working class voters with conservative social views there are. And they vastly overstate how likely they are to get out and vote.

    Those are my roots too. Working class. Rotherham.

    And I think you're right about the not voting in this GE that we are all so excited about.

    Hope you are right because my hopes of a Tory defeat rest upon exactly that.

    But regarding what drives these 'types' to support Brexit - and to like Farage - my personal hometown exposure (which is still substantial) tells me it is one thing above all else - IMMIGRATION - and it tells me that without a shadow of a doubt.
    Actual immigration (or as is the case in places like Hartlepool) perceived immigration..
This discussion has been closed.