UKIP Voting profile

[Doggy Styles]

Anyway the current state of affairs is such that Vote UKIP = Get Milliband.

Indeed. It's a worrying thought.

[d000hg]

I'm not a UKIP voter, but ... wanted to see what the fuss was about and if they could generate any local interest. I was also suspicous of how UKIP is being painted by some.

The town is a CON/LAB marginal. I was quite shocked by how many people were there, was standing room only.

They went for the same reasons you did.

First thing he said "If you are expecting me to bash foreigners you can leave now".

Well duh. That's not going to get him votes.

Labour had planted some smug stooges in the audience to ask some (as they thought) difficult questions, Farrage remained good humoured but brushed them aside very adeptly. Seems Labour are VERY worried and are adopting this tactic everywhere they can.

So he has pat answers or typical oily politician manoeuvring skills? How did you know they were planted Labour stooges... just because they supported Labour?

Farrage himself is a very impressive and charismatic orator

Like Hitler?

[Old Greg]

They went for the same reasons you did.

Well duh. That's not going to get him votes.

So he has pat answers or typical oily politician manoeuvring skills? How did you know they were planted Labour stooges... just because they supported Labour?

Like Hitler?

Maybe they were UKIP stooges pretending to Labour stooges.

[sasguru]

... trading with commonwealth countries rather than EU.

....

This is the bit I don't get about UKIP.
Are they saying they want stronger links with countries like India, which after all has the strongest growth potential of any commonwealth country?
Will that mean more ICTs and easier access for Indian students and businessmen?

I don't think they've thought this through

[Peoplesoft bloke]

They win BECAUSE people vote for them, you make it sound like they win by magic. Every MP gets in because they get the most votes in their constituency, of course.

Yes - but as others have observed, all of the votes for anyone else are a waste and we have a significant proportion of voters who always vote Tory, Lab, Lib etc., so if you wind up being a Tory or UKIP in a safe LAB seat, you might as well eat your ballot paper.

[Old Greg]

This is the bit I don't get about UKIP.
Are they saying they want stronger links with countries like India, which after all has the strongest growth potential of any commonwealth country?
Will that mean more ICTs and easier access for Indian students and businessmen?

I don't think they've thought this through

It's an emotional appeal to return to the happy 1950's, where the housewife cleans behind the fridge while the NZ lamb - imported under a preferential trade deal - cooks in the oven.

[ZARDOZ]

They went for the same reasons you did.

Well duh. That's not going to get him votes.

So he has pat answers or typical oily politician manoeuvring skills? How did you know they were planted Labour stooges... just because they supported Labour?

Like Hitler?

Not one person left or asked a question about immigration.

Oily? No, it looked like he was used to it. He did engage with the questioner. All in good humour.

There were some Labour local cllrs there colluding with them, and an activist told me Labour were running a dirty tricks campaign along such lines. I can believe it, they are winning Labour voters as well as disillusioned Conservatives.

[MyUserName]

Never mind that. How good are you really at chess?

He is actually pretty good

[sasguru]

Ah, no.

If age is the yardstick, it's the demographic rather than specific people, and churn happens. Todays voters would get older and become the new UKIP voters.

I disagree. Today's young grew up with Europe as their backyard, they holidayed there, have mates there, some go to university there and some want to work there.
The anti-Europe contingent voting for UKIP are the old-school post-war generation who were taught that all continentals were inferior to Anglo-Saxons blah-blah.
It's all about the propaganda you're exposed to when you're young.
Today's young are not going to suddenly hate Europe when they're older.

[sasguru]

It's an emotional appeal to return to the happy 1950's, where the housewife cleans behind the fridge while the NZ lamb - imported under a preferential trade deal - cooks in the oven.

Ah so they want trade with the white commonwealth (Oz, NZ, Canada, not SA anymore, that's too blek). Not a great trading strategy I would say - none of those countries are great long-term bets: Oz will be fooked once its commodity boom ends, Canada isn't that large an economy and NZ is negligible).