Why are people so blinkered politically?

If you’ve been brought up in a household that leans a particular way politically, why do you cling so desperately to that allegiance no matter what?

I’ve just been talking politics with a pal, who said that he would rather vote for the corrupt and inept institution we currently are led by, than another party because they are concerned the alternative might be inept too.

The same issue applies to labour voters who were absolutely adamant that Corbyn should be re-elected as leader.

It’s this kind of dogma that has led to the destructive polarisation in politics that exists after brexit imo.

Why can’t you vote for somebody else?

Electoral reform (PR??) might help in terms of delivering a system where people are given the opportunity to vote aligned to their principles.

Politics seem to be like football teams, people tend to support the parties their parents did. I think that is why there is a shift in labour supporters from traditional ‘working class’ to ‘middle class’ (whatever those terms actually mean and even if the exist today at all)…their parents worked down the pit, but they have gone to uni and got professional jobs where people historically have been tories, but they have clung onto the political doctrines of their parents and waffle on about the working class while at the same time being those fat cat senior managers that old labour used to hate so much.

I hear you. I often read the ‘political’ threads on hear but never comment on them as most posters are so blinkered one way or the other I see no point offering an other view point. Its as if its a religion to some and they cannot alter their beliefs.  I have no political elegance and have voted for various parties throughout the years based on many different things from their leader, their manifesto, who is the local candidate etc.

I’ve voted for at least 4 different parties over the years.

My parents have only ever voted for one and I had a very conservative upbringing.

So I’m note sure people are?

My dad has voted Tory his whole life and always will (brexit party being the exception). My mum always did (might still) but seems a lot less likely to now, since brexit.

It will be a particularly chilly day in Hell the day I vote Tory.

A lot of peoples choices / beliefs are like that. Not just political ones.

I suspect its because to make a change you have to recognise you were previously wrong. That’s hard for most people to do.

Personally I think a couple of things are going on. One is just tribalism, my side, your side, Utd vs City all that crap. We’re very good at convincing ourselves that this attitude is a good thing. Secondly I think politics is one of the last areas where saying “I got that wrong, and I’m sorry, this other thing is what we should do instead” doesn’t routinely happen. Our politicians are reluctant to say it as it’s not rewarded.

Then you have folk who “know” that their chosen system will absolutely work, and if people just gave it a chance we’d all be living better lives. They don’t understand why YOU can’t see that THEY are right and YOU are misguided.

I was brought up in a left-leaning, Labour voting home, and voted Labour (in general elections) in ’97 and 2001, but then not again until 2017 and 2019. Mainly because Tony Blair dragged UK politics way over towards the Right, and Labour weren’t a party that represented what I feel would be the best option for the UK, until Corbyn in 2017. I will not now be voting Labour again until there is at least some semblance of a leadership that represents the real needs of the people, rather than greed and exploitation. I have alternatively voted for various left-leaning parties, including Greens, Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist/Leninist), Women’s Party, and others. I feel that people should be able to vote for a party that represents what they feel would be the best option in terms of representation, and am a strong supporter of Proportional Representation, as I feel that’s a lot more genuinely democratic than the shit sandwich we currently have on offer.

I’m not politically ‘blinkered’ in any way. But then; I’m well educated.

I’m not politically blinkered, I just hate any one that doesn’t agree with me!

I’ve always voted on whoever has policy’s that meet my current political views – I’ve voted for three different parties over the years…..

Others I know, my wife included, will only vote for one party, with a view of trying to get one of the main two parties into power.

I’m also, predictably, a fan of political reform.

Considering the 2019 election resulted in a significant political realignment, I think it is probably getting less common.

See also: religion.

I suspect a lot of people just don’t know what to do, so pick an allegiance based on a single policy. Like Nick said, people vote Tory because they consider themselves “Tory Voters.” How many times have you heard “I could never vote Labour because of the Iraq War” or “I could never vote Lib Dem because of tuition fees”? It’s daft, they’re choosing politics today based on (perceived or actual) mistakes from fifteen years ago.

It’s this kind of dogma that has led to the destructive polarisation in politics that exists after brexit imo.

Been this way long before Brexit.

If anything, the last election has life long Labour supporters vote Tory for the first ever time.

I have no political elegance

Good call! Nor have I!

I’ll vote for anyone, me.

Well. Actually. I’d especially vote for anyone who was trying to bring about a useful voting system, instead of continuing the twoone party shitefest we have to suffer here. FPTP was a prototype for modern democracies and admittedly a bucketload better than kings and queens and bishops or dictatorships and all that – but its one hell of a long way from an actual good system such as implemented in a load of other countries already. Us and america, only us and america, have this tosh.

I have alternatively voted for various left-leaning parties, including Greens, Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist/Leninist), Women’s Party, and others. I feel that people should be able to vote for a party that represents what they feel would be the best option in terms of representation,

You absolutely have the right to vote for whomever you think most aligns to your personal political views, but a practical view would be that all these votes were wasted, as those parties were never going to return an MP.

Until PR comes along, and it won’t, I think the best approach is to pick the least-worst option of the main parties who stand a chance of winning in the constituency you’re in.

Because it’s far easier than wading through the lies, misinformation, ACTUAL informarmtion, opinion and lack of opinion out there in order to reach a rational and objective conclusion.

My vote is typically a single issue vote which usually ignores my chosen party’s often well publicised failings and/or the possible weaknesses in their single issue stance, mainly because I don’t possess a political history or economics degree and therefore rely on the opinions of others (mainly on here! 😎) or media reporting, both of which need to be filtered and assessed against known biases, whilst at the same time trying to formulate my own clumsy and ill-educated opinion as to what is best.

I believe the media/schools etc. have a much greater responsibility towards accurate, truthful reporting and analysis to allow people like me to actually stand a chance of making a sensible choice, but that would require government intervention and we all know how likely that is!

On that basis it’s usually just easier to vote the way I always have done 🙄

“I could never vote Labour because of the Iraq War”

I didn’t vote Labour from 2005 to 2017, because of the Iraq + Afghanistan wars, as too many people in the Labour leadership were those who voted for it. I will not vote for a party led by those who think the murder of innocent people is in any way justified. I don’t think that’s unreasonable really.

Because it’s far easier than wading through the lies, misinformation, ACTUAL informarmtion, opinion and lack of opinion out there in order to reach a rational and objective conclusion.

exactly. was going to post the same.

IHN, (sadly) you are correct.

You absolutely have the right to vote for whomever you think most aligns to your personal political views, but a practical view would be that all these votes were wasted, as those parties were never going to return an MP.

The Greens have an MP in Brighton, the Respect Party had an MP in Tower Hamlets (yes, it was Galloway, and yes, he’s a ****, but Respect still beat the corrupt Blairite incumbent Labour MP), other constituencies have had independent MPs; Islington North currently does. So voting for someone to represent you in Parliament is never a ‘wasted’ vote. Democracy relies on people having freedom to choose to vote for whomever they want. Which is why we need PR, because FPTP is a joke.

The Greens have an MP in Brighton, the Respect Party had an MP in Tower Hamlets (yes, it was Galloway, and yes, he’s a ****, but Respect still beat the corrupt Blairite incumbent Labour MP), other constituencies have had independent MPs; Islington North currently does. So voting for someone to represent you in Parliament is never a ‘wasted’ vote.

You’re right, that’s fair, but in all those constituencies those “non-big-party” candidates stood a chance of winning, so my ‘rule’ still applies. However, if you’re a card-carrying-communist living in, say, Macclesfield, a vote for the Communist Party is ‘wasted’.

Democracy relies on people having freedom to choose to vote for whomever they want. Which is why we need PR, because FPTP is a joke.

I don’t disagree with this at all, but you can only play the game you’re given, not the one you want.

My political views are left-wing – in much of Europe, I would be fairly unremarkable democratic socialist.

I have come from a family where my dad was more left-wing in his political views, despite having come from a privileged position in his original homeland (Hindu of the Brahmin caste.). My mum came from a mixed-middle class and working class background, but in real-terms is somewhat centrist.

However, both my parents were/are passionate about the welfare state and free high-quality health and social care. Both have seen their role as doing their best to ensure quality of life through their professional lives.

My view is that whilst people are still hungry, homeless/poor quality housing, have unequal opportunities, inadequate health and social care and income insecurity – that huge wealth is wrong. D St o whilst, I have similar values – my beliefs are slightly different.

I don’t think i am really.
My Dads parents were ardent Conservatives, members of the local club etc.
My Mums father was a union rep in the London docks and a lifelong Labour supporter.

I’ve voted Tory, Lib Dem and Labour in the past.

I’ll never, ever vote Tory again due to Brexit, although regardless of Brexit the current mob wouldn’t get my vote because they are incompetent, dishonest c*nts.

I want the Labour party to be a movement I can trust/vote for again – there was no way on earth i was going to support Corbyn/Abbott/McDonnel hence why i’d switched to Lib-Dem since 2016.

Note – i live in a very safe Tory seat (Orpington) so whatever i do won’t make any difference.

However, if you’re a card-carrying-communist living in, say, Macclesfield, a vote for the Communist Party is ‘wasted’.

It’s only ‘wasted’ in YOUR eyes, not those of the voter. You don’t get to dictate who other people vote for. That’s the point.

Its all an absolute joke of our own making. Remember when we were all at school and the popular, loud kids were the ones who had all the influence at school. Well its no different in politics. I never did popularity contests at school and i dont do them now.

So now all these popular kids have grown up they move into CAREER politics. They dont have an agenda because if they did, it would be much too specific to actually win them any votes. No what they do is continue their childhood actions of saying what keeps them popular enough to be semi successful. The real success stories then employ others with talents in specific areas to fill the gaps. Trouble is those talents have moved away from education & transport to things like lying, cheating, tax avoidance, funding and racism.

Anyhow, i did vote for quite a long time. A mix over the years until i realised they are all a shower of shite. Boris and co are a cesspit of lies and corruption and Labour are so pathetic that they cant offer up any opposition. TBH even if they could, it would just be another case of winning the popularity contest by whatever means are required.

In the end this is what we as a country deserve. We vote for the people who promise us what we want, not what the country needs. Its really sad and i will not be adding to it. I have been content for the last few in tearing up my vote.

People are tribal & lazy. That & we seem to have lost the ability for rational thinking & critical analysis. Too often opinions shape the facts rather than the other way round.

This is why my proposed solution for fixing the electoral system is that each voter must name a policy/manifesto pledge of their chosen party that they DON’T agree with.
Blindly voting for a coloured rosette is the problem which needs fixing.

Blindly voting for a coloured rosette is the problem which needs fixing.

Amen.

It’s only ‘wasted’ in YOUR eyes, not those of the voter. You don’t get to dictate who other people vote for. That’s the point.

I suppose it depends on what you consider to be the purpose of a vote.

If you consider it to be an expression of your political opinion, then I can understand that you’d vote for whichever candidate was closest to that, regardless of party or chance of winning.

If you consider it to be a more pragmatic choice about who will represent you/run the country, then you’ve got to weigh up which candidates stand a chance of winning, and pick the one you like best (or, probably, dislike least).

I’m in the latter camp, you sound like you’re in the former.

If you consider it to be a more pragmatic choice about who will represent you/run the country, then you’ve got to weigh up which candidates stand a chance of winning, and pick the one you like best (or, probably, dislike least).

Currently, there is no real difference between voting Labour or Tory, as you just get the same wealthy elites ruling you. If you’re ok with that, keep doing the same thing. If you genuinely want something different, then you’ll need to act differently, won’t you?

I’m in the latter camp, you sound like you’re in the former.

You sound like you’re blinkered; I’m not.

Whilst there is undoubtedly an issue with people voting the same way as their parents (in the same way that people have total conviction in their faith of choice despite mostly having exactly the same faith as their parents having been born into it rather than chosen it), I’d say there is a little more to it.

Most families have a doctrine or a set of principles. It might might get watered down or concentrated and the odd ‘black sheep’ might take a totally different path but some things run true from one generation to the next. The belief in the welfare state’s importance, or not. The belief that money and accumulation there of is the single most important thing in your working life, or not. The belief in equality or the belief in independence of your personal thoughts/actions and choices being a priority over and above the impact on others. My ‘life principles’ are largely formed from my childhood experience. It’s not that surprising my political voting habits have some similarity to my parents.

But the need for political reform is imo the single biggest barrier to this nation making progress. More parties, coalition governments and a less polarised population would see more people voting with thought that the current situation. Not convinced it will happen in my lifetime however.

The mistake people make is to mix up ‘Principles’ with politics. Politics is a practical thing about how we create and make the world we want to live in and benefits as many people as possible and helps them to prosper. Everybody has different principles so to pin your political ideals onto principles, then you’re alienating more people you are trying to attract. Being much more practically minded about things, even though it creates apparent hypocrisies in terms of consistent principles, often leads to better outcomes for most people.

But alot of the politics is mixed up with principles…class divides and class wars, and more recently identity politics and more about top down outcomes rather than bottom up opportunities and empowering people as much as possible to make their own decisions in life.

You fall into one camp or the other and traditionally they have fallen broadly along traditional party lines, but recently it hasn’t and that has just caused the big tribal swings in our politics and the intolerance we’re seeing.

Stripping out the subjective principles and approaching politics with a more logical and un-emotional way would be far better. But emotions are powerful things and all too tempting for politicians to exploit, and causes people to make irrational decisions and makes them susceptible to influence…like blindly following the football team or political party your parents did. We’re all susceptible to it.

You sound like you’re blinkered; I’m not.

You know that being unwilling to engage in understanding why people might vote the way they do, and instead just lecturing to them that they’re wrong, could be considered blinkered too, right? And, interestingly, this seems to be a trait amongst those who define themselves to the left of the political spectrum.

Anyway, no hard feelings, when the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist/Leninist) returns an MP I’ll buy you a pint to celebrate.

But the need for political reform is imo the single biggest barrier to this nation making progress. More parties, coalition governments and a less polarised population would see more people voting with thought that the current situation. Not convinced it will happen in my lifetime however.

Yep.

An almost verbatim exchange I had with a work colleague during the 2015 campaign just about sums up the views of politics of a lot of people:

Colleague: Who should I vote for?

Me: I don’t know, what issues are you interested in? What are your political beliefs?

Colleague: I voted lib dem last time because they always win where I live, but I’ve heard they won’t win this time, so I don’t know who to vote for instead.

Me: So what issues in the news are you most bothered about?

Colleague: Immigration. Which party is going to do something about that?

Me: Well the tories are traditionally the party that thinks immigration is a problem, but in reality they won’t do much about it.

Colleague: But will they win?

Me: I don’t know, the polls seem to be in their favour though.

Colleage: Ok I’ll vote for the tories then.

The colleague in question is someone who is educated, and is now in a middle management position.

I’m a lefty-centrist and quite often feel amazed at how people can vote against their own best interest’s time and time again. I work in the public sector and in my office are two blokes who continue to vote for the tories even though their salaries and rights are being eroded by them, but that’s the way they’ve always voted. They are staunch Brexiters too even though a substantial chunk of our funding was derived from the EU and international sources.
I avoid talking politics with them because there’s no rationality to their arguments and it’s not exactly hard to pick apart their positions, makes absolutely no difference though

You know that being unwilling to engage in understanding why people might vote the way they do, and instead just lecturing to them that they’re wrong, could be considered blinkered too, right?

So why are you doing it then?

And, interestingly, this seems to be a trait amongst those who define themselves to the left of the political spectrum.

Oh does it now? Ok then. Says the person trying to explain how voting for anyone but the main two parties is ‘wrong’…:D

I got a bit fed up last week as I heard someone I know banging on about how Starmer wouldn’t be effective because he doesn’t have a plan to back up the principles he’s on about. So they were going to keep voting for Boris – fell on deaf ears when i pointed out Boris doesn’t have a plan or principles.
I’d cope with a tory govt if there was some competence displayed, but that’s sorely lacking. I hate the way the argument is pretty much “better the devil you know” even though the argument should be “you’ve had your chance and cocked it up, now bugger off”

But obviously not very well…

I think more than anything else it illustrates the scale of wilful ignorance of many people. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been told ‘I don’t really do politics’ whenever I speak to people about it. This is the major problem IMO. The state of politics, and the reputations of politicians has descended to such a point where people think it’s a dirty subject and don’t want anything to do with it, and to be honest I don’t blame them.

But the need for political reform is imo the single biggest barrier to this nation making progress.

Yes. One of things that often comes up often in these sorts of debates is the “professionalization” of MPs from all parties, the idea that they’ve done nothing else in their lives, they all seem to come from a very narrow socio-economic group, and are largely white middle aged men. Women, the disabled, BAME groups are all still woefully unrepresented. It’s hard to vote for any party when they don’t seem to look like (as a group)  the folks they claim to represent.

It’s no wonder that folks are turned off.