Is this Political Science gone mad? Tactical voting and the tabloids

Being a political scientist is not considered an exciting occupation by people who have a life, and  as party conversation topics go, electoral systems are pretty lousy. But with LibDem support somewhere in the high 20s (if the polls are to be believed), normal people start to wonder why 26% of the vote should give them 12% of the seats, while 28% of the vote for Labour would amount to just under 40% of the seats (you can fiddle with the numbers at the wonderful BBC’s election pages).

So it is perhaps unsurprising that the hitherto pretty arcane idea of tactical voting (voting against your favourite party to support them) is now making headlines in the tabloids: Enter the Mirror’s guide to tactical voting for Labour and LibDem supporters. The information looks valid and may well be part of Labours last-ditch strategy to save what might be saved.

Is this Political Science gone mad? Tactical voting and the tabloids 1

3 thoughts on “Is this Political Science gone mad? Tactical voting and the tabloids”

  1. Gaah – and now I've been blogging like mad about the government formation in the UK tonight. I suspect that one or the other textbook in comparative government will have to be revised 🙂

    Still, the implications of NRW for German national politics are interesting.

    Reply
  2. On second thought, Jacob Christensen is right when he argues that one should probably devote more attention to the regional elections in North Rhine-Westphalia (next Sunday) and be slightly less excited about the UK General Election:http://jacobchristensen.name/2010/05/04/nrw-vs-gb

    Then again, as Jacob puts it, the "UK is to Europe what New York is to the US", which certainly makes Westminster the Washington of the hearts.

    Reply
  3. On second thought, Jacob Christensen is right when he argues that one should probably devote more attention to the regional elections in North Rhine-Westphalia (next Sunday) and be slightly less excited about the UK General Election:http://jacobchristensen.name/2010/05/04/nrw-vs-gb

    Then again, as Jacob puts it, the "UK is to Europe what New York is to the US", which certainly makes Westminster the Washington of the hearts.

    Reply

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