Vote for Policies not Party: surprising results on Education and Health
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/matt...?utm_hp_ref=tw
Policies Matter - But the Results May Surprise You
Pollster TNS has polled people on education and health policies but without mentioning the party names to each policy. Here's the results.
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Originally Posted by Huffington Post
Today sees the release of new data from TNS that shows whose policies are preferred for Education and Health by a representative sample across Great Britain. It's especially interesting to me because the poll used the data and format from Vote for Policies, a service I set up before the 2010 election, where participants compare policies taken directly from the manifestos of the main political parties - but without knowing which parties they belong to.
Vote for Policies users are a self-selecting survey group, so the results from a national poll were always going to be different. And while the outcome is certainly unexpected, this is exactly the kind of research that has been needed for a long time - not just because of the policy preferences it reveals, but also the impact the poll had on the participants' voting intention. That's where the real gold can be found. But as I said, the results were pretty surprising so let's get those out of the way first...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Huffington Post
The most preferred Education policies were those of the Liberal Democrats (23%) just ahead of UKIP (21%), followed by Green (15%), Labour and Conservatives (10% each). Other parties consisted of the SNP, Scottish Greens and Plaid Cymru (2%, 2% and 1% respectively).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Huffington Post
The most preferred Health policies were UKIP's (28%), followed by Lib Dems (16%), Green (15%), Labour (14%) and Conservatives (11%). Other parties consisted of the SNP, Scottish Greens and Plaid Cymru (2%, 1% and 1% respectively).
What can we learn?
For me this is further evidence that policies need to be 'mainstream' in the political discussion. And I hope the rest of the media will take heed and start supporting what the burgeoning digital democracy sector of non-profits and charities have been doing so effectively on their own - getting more people to the ballot box by helping them make an informed decision.
Where do we start? For me, the lowlight of the 2015 election campaign has been been how late the manifesto policies were announced. It's bewildering to see that political parties don't know what their policies are at any given time, but it also prevents us from getting informed and having useful discussions around them. Rather than allowing political parties to delay the release of their manifestos until they see fit - and clearly as part of their campaign tactics - manifestos should be released with the convenience of voters in mind. For me that would mean at least 2 months before polling day, with an agreed deadline.
I'd reluctantly describe myself as a campaigner, but this is one campaign I am prepared to fight for, and something I hope the rest of the media will come together and fight for too. It's the route to better advice services, more informed voters, and higher turnouts. Policies matter.
TNS Omnibus interviewed a representative sample of 1,199 adults in Great Britain between the 21st and 23rd April 2015. Interviews were conducted as online self-completion and results have been weighted to make them representative of the general population. Full data tables and details on the methodology can be found at: www.tns-bmrb.co.uk.
The results don't surprise me in the slightest, although it does put to bed that stupid reply you always get of "well if they're (Y) hated so much why do people keep voting for them and not for X?". The fact is that many people vote solely has a habit, usually to do with tribalism.
You'll notice often with the main parties, but especially Labour I keep seeing, people stating "I'm voting Labour to get the Tories out" - it's never "I'm voting Labour for comprehensive education." or "I'm voting Labour for their defence policies." That should tell you something.
The two main parties are completely rotten and hollow to the core. It's only a more intense dislike of the other one that holds them both intact.
Thoughts?
