Would you vote differently?

Arkady

I'd love to see NOTA brought into Ireland.

Never going to happen though.

"None of the Above (NOTA), also known as "against all" or a "scratch" vote, is a ballot option in some jurisdictions or organizations, designed to allow the voter to indicate disapproval of all of the candidates in a voting system. It is based on the principle that consent requires the ability to withhold consent in an election, just as they can by voting no on ballot questions." - from wiki

Sand

Scofflaw wrote: »

I'm not sure why that would have anything to do with the decline of the establishment parties, either - if it's a badly aimed jab at me, I don't support one of the establishment parties, nor ever have done in my voting life.

Nope, not a jab at you. I think I can guess your political allegiance, and its not an establishment party - though got badly (and deservedly imo) burnt trying to be.

Its a clear ( I thought) point that the "political classes" interested in politics who form the bedrock of the establishment parties arent going to win votes from Irish voters who they so clearly despise and deride.

Manach

Unlikely but possible. On the economic issues, I did not support the present government so would be open to see if in result of a do-over what they would propose anew.

Scofflaw

Sand wrote: »

Nope, not a jab at you. I think I can guess your political allegiance, and its not an establishment party - though got badly (and deservedly imo) burnt trying to be.

Its a clear ( I thought) point that the "political classes" interested in politics who form the bedrock of the establishment parties arent going to win votes from Irish voters who they so clearly despise and deride.

Perhaps it was made less clear by the reference to thanks on this thread?

And, again, I'd have to accuse you of insufficient cynicism with respect to the results of the most recent election, if I can do so without being accused in turn of sneering at the Irish electorate. Personally, I would wait for the results of the next election before concluding that the establishment parties have lost their grip on the electorate.

FF's resurgence in this one suggests to me that by the next election it's quite possible they'll be back where they were before, and that the results of this election show only the standard 'casting out' of FG/Labour after the latest round of cleaning up the mess, but with the memory of that mess still too fresh to allow FF to be fully forgiven.

cordially,
Scofflaw

oscarBravo

Sand wrote: »

As an Irish voter, you're saying your decisions are not mature or intelligent? And your view on Irish water is "can't pay, won't pay"?

Or are you claiming to be a special unique snowflake?

None of the above.

Put a bit more effort into it. I'm sure you can figure out what my point is, when you're not too busy reflexively arguing against it.

Sand

oscarBravo wrote: »

None of the above.

Put a bit more effort into it. I'm sure you can figure out what my point is, when you're not too busy reflexively arguing against it.

I get your point - the Irish electorate is composed of people like you.

Lau2976

Id vote the same. SD,IND,SF,FF. I think most probably would. We have a small pool to chose from and most parties do the same thing anyway, make outrageous statements before we vote and back track in them when they're in.

u2me

Money buys votes whether by better campaigning or by putting a bit extra in the electorates pockets - Most people rarely read past the headlines and bullet-points, so evidence and reasonable argument is rarely a consideration. Politics is the practice and theory of influencing other people - Money is the greatest influence.

Jakey Rolling

I would hope that if another GE is called then the Social Democrats will get their act together and field a lot more candidates - in which case they would be getting my No. 1 vote.

I imagine Labour would suffer further losses, if not complete wipeout, with existing supporters seeing them as a spent force and going for SDs as a fresher untarnished alternative.

The overall dynamics are very interesting. Do the disaffected non-voters turn out once they see that they have FG on the run, perhaps upping the vote on the left? Or do latent FG supporters turn out in greater numbers or move them further up their preferences, cancelling out the increase in votes for the left.

I imagine a rally in FF voters outweighing both the above - so overall stalemate again. Would think that a lot of independents could lose out, if people realise that at least one strong party is needed for stable government, never mind their limited resources for conducting a second campaign.

Roger_007

I voted green in the election. I don't think I would again. I think I would vote for whoever is most likely to form all or part of a government. All this so-called diversity is grand but the country needs a government even if you don't agree with all their policies. A government will have to involve at least one of the largest parties.

Of the three largest parties:
SF, it seems, are unlikely to go into government unless they are the lead party and get their own way on everything. So, that's not going to happen.
FF, it seems, will go into government if they are near to an overall majority. Not going to happen either.
FG, it seems, will go into government with almost anybody and are willing to ditch some policies to do so. That's a possibility.

Fr Tod Umptious

Jakey Rolling wrote: »

I would hope that if another GE is called then the Social Democrats will get their act together and field a lot more candidates - in which case they would be getting my No. 1 vote.

I imagine Labour would suffer further losses, if not complete wipeout, with existing supporters seeing them as a spent force and going for SDs as a fresher untarnished alternative.

The overall dynamics are very interesting. Do the disaffected non-voters turn out once they see that they have FG on the run, perhaps upping the vote on the left? Or do latent FG supporters turn out in greater numbers or move them further up their preferences, cancelling out the increase in votes for the left.

I imagine a rally in FF voters outweighing both the above - so overall stalemate again. Would think that a lot of independents could lose out, if people realise that at least one strong party is needed for stable government, never mind their limited resources for conducting a second campaign.

What is it with people and the SDs ?

They had lots of time to get ready for this election and all they returned was their sitting TDs.

What makes people think they will do better in a few months in an election that will be less favourable to small parties ?