If there any polling available that asked this question pre-Coalition?

Good to see Democracy working as intended. With all the major party’s completely reviled by a majority.

Interesting that despite the focus being on the Tories having to ‘detoxify’ the brand and suchlike (rightly so), they are only very slightly more despised than the Labour party – and I guess 1% is within the margin of error.

I’d like to see such figures (although I doubt they exist) stretching back over decades, rather than at a point in time. My suspicion is that the New Labour project alienated a generation of voters, but I could be mistaken.

As Cylux says, it is somewhat absurd that a third of all voters surveyed would never consider voting for *any* of the mainstream parties…

@ 3 J

“Interesting that despite the focus being on the Tories having to ‘detoxify’ the brand and suchlike (rightly so), they are only very slightly more despised than the Labour party – and I guess 1% is within the margin of error.”

My assumption is that the Tories aren’t hated by people who voted Tory, unlike the Lib Dens.

“As Cylux says, it is somewhat absurd that a third of all voters surveyed would never consider voting for *any* of the mainstream parties…”

I think you’re misreading there. If those numbers are percentages the “never vote” columns only add up to 99%, which conceivably means nobody put “never vote” for more than one party.

@4 – “My assumption is that the Tories aren’t hated by people who voted Tory, unlike the Lib Dems.”

Regardless, 30% of those surveyed would never vote Labour. I don’t think it’s an unreasonable conclusion to draw that 30% therefore look upon them as toxic – whilst the figure is only 1% higher for the Labour party.

My point was that whilst die hard Tories are unlikely to vote Labour, and vice versa (actually, linking the figures to voting intentions, the percentage of those who would “never…” vote for one side, but intend to vote for the other, is level at 60%), the traditional image of the Tories being toxic to everyone else is perhaps overstated – certainly compared to the extent to which Labour is also considered toxic.

“I think you’re misreading there…”

I don’t think I explained myself very well; apologies. What I mean is that each of the mainstream parties is so toxic that a third of those surveyed would never consider voting for them. You are quite right to say that the data does not support the conclusion that a constant third of those surveyed would not vote for any mainstream party.

As you say, the aggregate “I would never vote for x…” is 99% whilst the aggregate “I would always vote for x…” is just 23%.

I still think that indicates a failure of democracy.

Well Sunny, it might have been unexpected by you, but not by me. People tend to have a certain amount of respect for those who stand by their principles, even if they disagree with those principles. The problem for the Lib Dems is that the general public have now realised just how few principles they have, and how they will say anything in order to garner votes. Local political activists from parties ranging from the BNP through to Respect, and encompassing every shade of opinion have known for years that when it comes to dirty tricks, then the Lib Dems are masters of the game.

For an example of where the fighting will get dirty, have a look at Warwickshire.

The county is now all Tory. There are six constituencies and according to Democratic Audit one of those seats will go. The interesting thing is that five of the MPs are new: at 2010 there was one new constituency and the Tories gained three. One seat (Stratford) is solid Tory but the previous MP retired (John Maples), the new MP is the Cameron favourite (and Lord Archer aide), Nadhim Zahawi. That means that only one of the current MPs has any experience (Jeremy Wright, Kenilworth and Southam, he was elected MP for Rugby and Kenilworth in 2005).

Democratic Audit reckon that Kenilworth and Southam will be abolished, which means that the most experienced of the MPs will lose his seat (Wright is also a whip). So where will he go? Will one of the others offer their seats? My guess is that Wright will try for the new expanded Stratford seat, which is likely to take 7K from his old seat. The two constituencies are similar (shire counties). If Zahawi puts up a fight, and there is a reselection, the fight will get dirty.

As Duncan says @ 1, I’d like to know what the figures were pre-coalition. Could it not be that the high proportion of people saying they’d never vote Lib Dem largely reflects the fact that most people feel there’d be no *point* voting Lib Dem, because they could never win in their constituency?

What surprises me most is how few people are in the ‘always’ camp for any given party. I can understand that 30% of voters – mainly those firmly on the right, presumably – would never vote Labour; but why are so few of them loyal Tory voters? I can understand that 31% of voters – mainly those firmly on the left, presumably – would never vote Tory; but why are so few of them loyal Labour voters? There aren’t *that* many right-wingers who float between the Tories, the Lib Dems and UKIP (say), or that many left-wing voters who float between Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens?

(Unless those “would never vote…” figures include a lot of people who’d never vote for *any* party? In which case it would be wrong to conclude that anything like 30% – 38% of *voters* find any of the parties ‘toxic’.)

“Could it not be that the high proportion of people saying they’d never vote Lib Dem largely reflects the fact that most people feel there’d be no *point* voting Lib Dem, because they could never win in their constituency?”

Why vote LibDem in any constituency instead of voting for the genuine article?

@ 5 J

“Regardless, 30% of those surveyed would never vote Labour. I don’t think it’s an unreasonable conclusion to draw that 30% therefore look upon them as toxic – whilst the figure is only 1% higher for the Labour party.

My point was that whilst die hard Tories are unlikely to vote Labour, and vice versa (actually, linking the figures to voting intentions, the percentage of those who would “never…” vote for one side, but intend to vote for the other, is level at 60%), the traditional image of the Tories being toxic to everyone else is perhaps overstated – certainly compared to the extent to which Labour is also considered toxic.”

Looks like I did some misreading myself! Apologies, what you say here makes sense.

“As you say, the aggregate “I would never vote for x…” is 99% whilst the aggregate “I would always vote for x…” is just 23%.

I still think that indicates a failure of democracy.”

Really? I’m not so sure; it might just indicate that the main parties are not as similar as some would have us believe. Public opinion is broad, and one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

There are many positions that a party could hold that would make it impossible for me to vote for them. For example, a party could support eliminating the NHS and replacing it with a private system. However, there are other people who feel the opposite, and would never vote for a party that wanted to increase state healthcare. I don’t think it’s a failure of democracy that parties represent a wide range of views.

I suppose a less optimistic interpretation is that people swear off certain parties for life and never bother examining their manifestos after that. That wouldn’t be so good for democracy, but it’s not something we can deduce from the data above.

“I suppose a less optimistic interpretation is that people swear off certain parties for life and never bother examining their manifestos after that. ”

And some stay as regular floating voters – depending on the prevailing issues and the stances of the parties and their respective leaders.

I couldn’t bring myself to vote in the 2005 election. IMO it’s no accident that turnout at the last three general elections has been low by historic standards:
http://www.ukpolitical.info/Turnout45.htm

Pretty damning for the LibDems but then their all the same. I wouldn’t vote for any of them. The system is a stitch up. Time people woke up the reality and stop playing these silly political games which suits the real power brokers just fine. Your real government is over in Switzerland right now.