Why do poor people vote for the Torys?

I see so many working class people unsure whether to vote for Labour or Tory or are actively saying they will vote Tory... I fail to understand this. The majority of people in the UK will be adversely affected by anything the Tories do. The only thing they are interested in is ensuring the same people who are on top stay there and those at the bottom do the same. Even middle class I think have to be pretty unpleasant people to vote for them. I just don't understand WHY they are in power. Are people that conditioned that they think that they are lesser than those who have money?

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Reply 1

gjd800

A lot of people genuinely buy into this worker-shirker dichotomy that the Tories have peddled since 2010. It's difficult not to when it's rammed down your throat every day, I suppose.

Reply 2

TSRian123454321

It's because they don't want to vote for Labour.

Reply 3

BigYoSpeck

After a wasted attempt to appeal to reason with an uncle of mine here are the bullet points of why he's going to be voting Tory:

*Impractical and unaffordable Labour policies
*Corbyn is a lunatic left wing communist terrorist appeaser
*He doesn't like beards
*Tories are the lesser of 2 evils
*Under labour this country will disappear through a black hole of capitulation and appeasement to Europe something this country fought 2 wars to avoid
*There are a lot of Tories that are pro brexit far more than in labour or lib dems
*Labour favour mass inmmigration
*Labour wants a £10 minimum wage to people at mcdonalds
*Doesn't believe someone serving chip's should be earning close to what he earns
*Thinks it will cause job losses

Reply 4

Moura

Original post by BigYoSpeck

Propaganda is doing it's job I see. This is why the Torys are also destroying out education system (except for the schools in well off areas of course)... keep them dumb.

is he working class?

Actually you know what, some working class seem to be the first ones to push down those even poorer than them back to the bottom!

Reply 5

DrMikeHuntHertz

Judging by the Tory manifesto they've turned into Blue Labour.

Reply 6

BigYoSpeck

Original post by Moura

He is yeah, manual labour.

The attitude towards an increase in the minimum wage was what surprised me most. It's such a protective attitude, the only pride he can have in his financial achievement is if others are kept poorer.

No consideration for the fact that a lower minimum wage would push middle incomes up.

No consideration for the fact that when he was that young person getting his first job at an equivalent entry level pay he could afford to buy a house.

And a total lack of realisation that having that attitude that those with 'less merit' than you being trodden down so that he feels like he's better than them is the very reason why despite his lifetime of experience and trained skills, he's on such a modest income that a £10 minimum wage leaves him feeling threatened as someone above him has the very same attitude.

So these are the obstacles in trying to reason with people who have this masochistic plan on voting Conservative. It's important to remember the lessons from Brexit and Trump presidency though that just calling people idiots will lose you the argument as they walk into the voting booth and spite you. I don't think my uncle will listen to any rational argument, he became quite sarcastic towards the end of the conversation. But there's nothing to lose talking to him in a reasonable way about it.

One word: Corbyn.

Because why not?

Original post by Moura

Well in this election we have a choice between somebody inoffensive or a man who wants the Queen gone, does not support the union and wishes to leave NATO.

Generally speaking though i vote Conservative because i believe in aspiration, i believe in a property owning democracy, i believe the state should not tax the average person nor punish success, i believe in fiscal conservatism .

The notion that we should all be class warriors and that the Tories actively harm me is naive. I am better off now than i was in 2010.

Reply 10

SMEGGGY

Original post by Moura

You've not a clue have you eh. :rolleyes:

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 11

Reue

Because I don't want to vote the same way as someone who refers to others as 'unpleasant' just because they disagree with a voting choice.

Reply 12

1010marina

From what I've seen

Labour spend money and it gets all happy and fine until it turns out, oops they overspent. People vote in the Tories and they make a load of cuts to help the economy and people get cheesed off eventually and vote Labour in.

And yeah, this time specifically, Corbyn is a deal breaker.

Reply 13

Moura

Original post by SMEGGGY

You've not a clue have you eh. :rolleyes:

Posted from TSR Mobile

No I haven't a clue why poor people vote Tory. That is the nature of a question. To ask something you don't know the answer to. Very observant.

Reply 14

Moura

Original post by Rakas21

Ok this is a very interesting answer, thank you.

Do you not think it's unfair that poor people have to work far harder than rich people (those born rich) to even attempt to get a fraction of what they have and that there should be a more level playing ground? Do you think people should suffer because they were unlucky enough to be born poor? Those who work really hard but struggle to get out of the situation they were born in?
Do you disagree with the NHS?
Genuinely curious.

Reply 15

3121

Original post by 1010marina

So 1010mania, I'd like to know, how have the Tory cuts actually helped the economy?

Reply 16

the bear

the Conservative and Unionist Party is the party of manliness. the Labor party is not for real men.

Reply 17

3121

The thing about the UK is, much of the working class are actually aspiring middle class, Labour can only win if it's in touch with that mood.

Reply 18

Rakas21

Original post by Moura

Ok this is a very interesting answer, thank you.

Do you not think it's unfair that poor people have to work far harder than rich people (those born rich) to even attempt to get a fraction of what they have and that there should be a more level playing ground?
Do you think people should suffer because they were unlucky enough to be born poor? Those who work really hard but struggle to get out of the situation they were born in?
Do you disagree with the NHS?
Genuinely curious.

I certainly think there is an injustice in terms of the inequality that occurs at the start of life however i don't see a credible solution to that. It is not the fault of an individual that our parent was more successful than mine nor that your parent chose to spend that money more wisely (perhaps on a private education) than mine. I don't believe that the answer is to punish that success in the first place through draconian income taxation. What i am sympathetic to are wealth taxes (the mansion tax for example) however it was far too simplistic and not thought through in 2015, based on what i have thus far i suspect that will be the case this time as well (only the employed should pay and the threshold should be pretty high to account for London).

I don't think the poor should suffer but i doubt you'll find anybody who thinks that. There are people who struggle their whole lives but that is why we have a welfare system that should provide a survival level to allow people to pick themselves back up and try again.

I don't support outright privatisation of the NHS if that is what you mean however i do believe we should be much harder on it. The NHS demands ever more money and the political class blindly provides it. We should have a complete review of the services that the NHS provides and strip it back to important stuff like heart and cancer vs adult transgender surgeries and second abortions.

In the context of your thread i will say that i consider points two and three to be based on fear. The Tories do not actively seek to keep the poor poor and the NHS is still publicly owned and free.

Reply 19

Mair18919

Original post by Moura

Absolutely not, but the parliamentary Labour party is composed of well off middle class people who love mass immigration. Uncontrolled immigration has damaged the quality of life, job and housing prospects of the majority of British people, but especially the low skilled. The Labour party has abandoned the interests of the indigenous working class in favour of immigrants. Thats why people voted Brexit and will not vote Labour in many cases.