Is voting for UKIP a wasted vote?
Yes and no.The UK operates a voting system known as first past the post. What this means is for each seat in this election, the winner will be whoever gets the most votes in that seat. Now although this sounds on the surface like a logical system it has a terrible side effect, it makes most parties a pointless vote.This map illustrates the problem perfectly. UKIP received a huge number of votes and only won 1 seat in 2015. This leads to very unrepresentative Parliament. In short voting for UKIP or any smaller party is unlikely to have an impact on the next government so from that perspective can be viewed as a waste.This all being said I implore you to vote as you truly see fit. The last thing we need in the UK is a two party system like that of the US. Voting for a smaller party is still registering your opinions and has other benefits. For example voting for UKIP may not result in a seat, however if enough vote for your local candidate then the representative will at least get his election deposit back and not have to pay out of pocket for running.A vote for UKIP is also making it very clear to the government how you feel. Sure you may not win a seat but if millions of people vote UKIP as happened in the last election their voice is still heard.So in conclusion the real issue for any party other than Labour and Conservatives is the voting system itself, which is in need of dire reform but please still vote the way you truly feel is right.
Why did UKIP do so poorly with so many votes?
The UK has a system that incorporates the locality of where votes are cast into the seating of its Parliament rather than a straight vote of the nation. Thus a party must not only perform but must perform best in specific areas of land to succeed. UKIP is one of a few examples of a party in British history that did not. The most famous example is the 1974 election where the Liberals got 14 seats when their 'vote share' earning 6 million votes would have meant 140. In each of the 650 constituencies, the party with the most votes holds the seat. This means that parties that achieve a fair amount of votes nationwide but not earn the most votes in any particular area do not gain a lot in terms of seats. The system can also enlarge regional parties. In the 2015 elections, UKIP outpolled the SNP 12.6% of the vote to 4.7%, but were trounced in seats 56 to 1 Plaid Cymru got .6% and 3 seats. Greens got 3.8% and 1 seat.This site explains it well. Square pegs, round holeThe system of first past the post always ensures that each locality will get the representative the largest amount of its citizens wanted, but does not always ensure that the nation feels represented. The positives of a system is that it can allow areas that might be otherwise gobbled by London and big cities in legislative fights to have a voice. The criticism of this type of system is that to some degree you are allowing land to vote. In a similar issue in case called Reynolds v. Sims in the United States Supreme Court, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote. "Legislators represent people, not trees or acres. Legislators are elected by voters, not farms or cities or economic interests."Yet 2015 didn't turn out to give much ammunition to critics. UKIP was 'robbed' perhaps, the SNP was 'gifted.' but given the chart above, the system in 2015 didn't end up misrepresenting the will of the voters that much overall. Overall, 50% of people wanted a right-leaning government (UKIP or Tory) and Labour's 30% was not enough to command a majority be it a popular or seat-based system.
Why should leave voters vote for the Brexit party instead of UKIP, what are the differences between the two?
It is a good question, because each party will rob the other of votes such that an opposing party may win. That is politics.As a Leaver of over 20 years, I would say go for Nigel Farage’s party, Brexit. Batten, the current leader of UKIP, has chosen to associate UKIP with the far right. In the UK, the people are generally too fair minded to give the far right much time (the Nazis are not so far away in time) and so, I believe, Batten is on a loser. Farage was right to dissociate himself from the new UKIP regime.The differences between the two parties? Brexit plans to get a Brexit as the people voted for. UKIP may be overly racist or appears to be.I am puzzled why wanting to leave the EU, should get you labeled as racist and xenophobic. These are, of course, Remainers’ campaigning mantras. UKIP made a terrible mistake in associating itself with the far right.
Would you vote ukip in the next general election?
erm.. no? conservatives have international support for domestic and foreign affairs, and all other parties criticise it. Vote conservative, but educate yourself politcally before you vote. dont just vote labour or lib dem just because your parents say you should. who has the most sensible and intelligent members. labour with ed miliband and edd balls? - both total fools who must NEVER run the country, or the conservatives who have very 'quick on their feet', reasonable and logical politicians. but again, its your choice. UKIP is a wasted vote anyway as they will never come to power
Is A Vote For Anyone But The Main Political Parties Really A Wasted Vote?
Not if everybody votes for a fourth party. The problem is the current system has a massive bias built in. Currently this bias is a 60 built in majority for labour, in the 80's the built in majority was for the tories. The boundry commision sets the boundries based on the known voting habits of the electorate. This massively skews the results of an election and is not fair nor equitable. This means it is far more difficult for third/fourth etc parties to get any meaningful representation. These smaller parties need to get a far greater share of the vote to get the same representation, than the main parties. So, although it is a lot harder to elect a lower party to office, it is now ever more necessary that we do. The main three are all about representing foreign interests in Britain. They pay lip service to the environment, lie about the war on terror and are all wanting to take baby steps towards a totalitarian police state on a global scale. If the electorate as a whole believe that a vote for a smaller party is a wasted vote, then we are dommed to keep electing partied that take us for granted and abuse us at every turn. Effectively an elective dictatorship. If however the elctorate can be made to see that the only salvage for the UK is in smaller parties, and although difficult, that if enough of us vote for them, then we CAN make a difference, then maybe there is hope for a peaceful revolution in these Isles. However, when peacefull change becomes impossible, violent change becomes inevitable.
Don't UKIP voters realise they are just splitting the vote and letting Labour back in?
in hundreds of seats now, a vote for the Tories can be classeda wasted vote Do you wish to make it illegal to vote against the Tory Party, clown
Do you think it is time to vote Ukip? Many people feel that the three major parties aren't giving the people what they deserve and that there is still too much political correctness around.
A wise man once said to me "Remember you don't vote for a leader, you vote for a party". From what I've seen of Ukip they're not really a party they're a bunch of idiots rallying around Nigel Farage. A lot of people quite like Farage for some reason. He does have that ability to not look like a polished politician which seems to strike a chord with a lot of people and he's personally quite popular. But he's just one guy. He could have heart attack or be hit by a bus at any moment or be found unelectable for some other reason. He plans to lead the party for the foreseeable future but it's entirely possible that this won't happen. If you look beyond the smiling facade of Farage you don't really see a party with much in the way of unity. The rest of the members seem to be spouting their mouth off whenever possible with no real discipline or control. They're constantly in the news for calling women sluts or referring to Bongo Bongo land or saying all manner of stuff that makes them look totally unelectable. Their deputy leader is currently 36 years old and has yet to rake up 10 years in the party and has been in European Parliament for 4 years. If Farage dies tomorrow or gets convicted of tax fraud or gets kicked out of the party for some reason then they're suddenly being led by a guy who is younger than Ant and Dec and hasn't even got half a decades political experience. He will have to try and reign in a collection of ill-disciplined loudmouths and nutcases who seem to think basic rules of human decency don't apply to anyone in their party. They won't manage to survive past the next election cycle and will fracture and fall apart completely. Even if I agreed with the original posters position (and the stuff about "too much political correctness" is just nonsense) I would never vote for a party that was clearly centred around one guy and has such a fragile infrastructure surrounding him.
Will the UK come to its senses and vote UKIP or BNP at the election?
I will be voting UKIP, however it's not just immigration that makes me vote for them, it's a whole range of issues. If we allow the country to be run for any longer by the Lib/Lab/Con, there wont be any country left very soon. Liebour's politics of lunacy has caught up with them, and the people are seeing that now. My main reason for my voting choice is that UKIP are doing the most to force the issue of an EU referendum..... Why hasn't the other 3 allowed it? Because they just know that Britain would vote to leave the EU, stopping instantly millions of Europeans coming here and steeling our jobs and benefits and shaving billions off our national debt straight away.