2/24/2008

In Canada: Conservatives vote for issues, Liberals vote by habit

This makes it somewhat hard for the Conservatives to win elections:

The average Conservative supporter is driven by policies, hordes of Liberals vote by rote and tradition, and leadership is barely a factor in the current popularity of any of the federal parties. Sounds preposterous? You bet it does.

But those are among the results of a stunning new Nanos Research-Sun Media public opinion poll that turns conventional wisdom on its head, and is guaranteed to cause more than a little shock and awe among the chattering classes.

This is no rogue survey. Pollster Nik Nanos is arguably the most respected in the country, having accurately predicted the outcomes of the last two federal elections within a decimal point. . . .

Conservative suspicion that masses of Canadians don't care about Dion's disastrous leadership; they would vote for the Liberal party led by a fencepost. . . .

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3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Many of my democrat friends do the exact same thing, here in the states.
It's dumbfounding.

2/24/2008 2:01 PM  
Blogger Rail Claimore said...

The trend was even more pronounced in the US 50 years ago than today, when half of all voters were registered democrats. That number has declined and the number of independents has increased, perhaps as a result of voters actually thinking before casting their vote. Granted, it can be wrong thinking, but it's thinking nonetheless...

2/25/2008 12:36 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Inherited voting patterns seem to be quite common. the British Labour party seems to rely heavily on them, and the bullshit that they are "the party of the working class".

In Ireland the two main parties are centre right and date to the split of the republican movement over the issue of the partition of Ireland, and subsequent civil wars. there is still a very strong tradition of "ours is a **** family".

Keith

2/25/2008 6:50 AM  

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