General Election 2007, who has your first preference?

nesf

Sorry for screwing up the last poll and all the confusion. Please vote for your first preference here.

[Mod edit]

This thread has been moved here from After hours.
Polls are not allowed here so this poll has been closed.

Please continue to discuss you preferences here.

GerardKeating

nesf wrote:

Sorry for screwing up the last poll and all the confusion. Please vote for your first preference here.

Looks like an FG landslide just now... 100% of votes are for FG...

nesf

GerardKeating wrote:

Looks like an FG landslide just now... 100% of votes are for FG...

Heh.


Added an option for people who are undecided.

singingstranger

Not being able to get a vote because postal votes are only given to students studying away but within Ireland ftl.

lady_j

humph... I want to vote. I want change but I cant find a party who I believe can do that. Totally undecided

Kojak

Fg

burnedfaceman

will be voting for fine gael. based on fact that present govt has been in power for too long and has become complacent and arrogant. have no party allegiance but based on reading fg manifesto and policies on website and researched other parties i shall vote FG

Mossy Monk

Undecided at the moment. But I will not be voting for FF or PD.

Dave!

Labour FTW

rainbow kirby

Labour here.

Nightwish

I'm voting Labour with Greens as 2nd preference

irish_bob

thier is a question i have been asking myself now for quite some time
that question is , why oh why are the pd,s so unpopular
to me , the pd,s are indicitive of celtic tiger ireland , to me they would seem like the ideal party for young educated professional go getters of which thier is a generation of in this country ,
thier are thousands of people in this country , particulary in the age group under 30 who in the past 10 yrs have embraced irelands new found wealth , who have cast of the shackels of the church and other cultural traditions in this country , traditions that both fianna fail and fine gael are close to

people who wanted to work hard and make money in the private sector
the pd,s have always championed theese views
theese are libertarian ideals and libertarianism has been rampant in ireland this past decade
surely thier must be a huge demographic out there whos natural home is with the progressive democrats
based on what i have stated , it would seem that the pd,s should be a bigger party than labour and closing in on fine gael
yet this is not the case , why
the only conclusion i can come to is that the 2 td,s who are the face of the pd,s , micheal mc dowell and mary harney are just not attractive to the general public in this country
thier is another reason though , the majority of people in this country vote for which ever party thier parents voted for , some in here will strongly refute this but in my experience it is more often than not the case

because of this , the pd,s are a non runner as they only began as a party in 1985 and no one who was born in that year has kids who are old enough to vote


neo liberalisms has been the hallmark of this country this past 10 yrs and the progressive democrats are thee only neo liberal party in this country

as i said thier unpopularity must be down to thier 2 main ministers couples with people sheepishly voting for the party thier parents voted for
this is especially true with fianna fail familys

Nightwish

I take it you're a PD supporter then! I will be the first to refute the family voting theory. My mothers side of the family were staunch FF supporters, always attending dinners, cumann's etc but I would sooner gouge out my eyes than give them my vote. That said there are people who do sadly still do what their parents tell them, as opposed to thinking for themselves.

brianthebard

DaveMcG wrote:

Labour FTW

Seconded. (or fourthed at this stage)

tSubh Dearg

Greens with either Labour or FG second choice then randomers.

No preferences for the PD's or FF.

Oh and I don't vote for the PD's as I don't agree with their politics and I refute the "voting the same as my parents" thing because then I would be voting for them.

markpb

Greens.

I think FF/PD did well bringing about (or at least contributed too) the current state of the economy but there's more to life than just money in the pocket and I think they missed that. Transport and health are obvious examples of this. Greens won't make a majoity but I think they might do a good job if they are king-makers. After #1, I'm not sure. FG and Labour I guess. Not FF because of Martin Cullen and not PDs because of their interference in DB and changing the laws on cycle lanes.

caffrey

the current goverment did ok in contributing to the current economy however, making a few people rich is what they were doing really, granted people have more money in terms of pence and pounds but how much have they done to prevent us spending all that hard earned cash on regular stuff with inflated prices. obviously there are many other problems on top of that too.

FG,Labour, Greens

crosstownk

FF again. Not sure where my preferences will go after that, maybe Green, but not sure yet.

mikemac

FG and preferences to Labour & Greens in that order.

Kernel

irish_bob wrote:

thier is a question i have been asking myself now for quite some time
that question is , why oh why are the pd,s so unpopular
to me , the pd,s are indicitive of celtic tiger ireland , to me they would seem like the ideal party for young educated professional go getters of which thier is a generation of in this country ,
thier are thousands of people in this country , particulary in the age group under 30 who in the past 10 yrs have embraced irelands new found wealth

No, I think you have completely over-estimated the demographic you have quoted. Most people in the country are pissed off and under severe pressure financially speaking. Celtic tiger or no. You're judging the populace by your circle of friends/work colleagues I reckon.

PD's = Irish version of Thatcher's Conservative party.

Also, wealth != happiness, social harmony, civic contentment.

Pherekydes

irish_bob wrote:

...with people sheepishly voting for the party thier parents voted for

Who should I vote for? My father was a member of the LP, while my mother was a staunch shinner (what a shock that was, I can tell you, with a son in the army). Who should I sheepishly vote for? Obviously, you're lucky to have two PD parents. :rolleyes:

Undecided as to where my first pref. will go, but it won't be towards FF, PDs or SF.

county

labour will get my vote

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

nesf

daveirl wrote:

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I find it hard to see a core vote for him being there anyway. Agreed on most points also, but the PDs are about as close to that style of politics and economics that we have at the moment, there isn't really an alternative to them.

daveirl

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nesf

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

It's depressing isn't it? You're lucky to be on the south side of the Lee, I'm surrounded by hard left candidates...

Sad Professor

I'm gonna spoil my vote, thank you very much . Can you add an option for that?

Agent Smith

micmclo wrote:

FG and preferences to Labour & Greens in that order.

Likewise
FG 1,2,3
Lab 4,5
Green 6

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

nesf

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

Hmm. Touché sir.

Giblet

FF. In a time of economic growth and stability, it's the wrong time for change.

Time Magazine

FG. After a time when we've earned so much and are still left with the desperate transportation, infrastructural and social systems we had previously, it's definitely time for a change.

And I wouldn't call inflation of 5.1% "stability", Giblet.

Gaspode

FF. But lets face it, its Hobson's choice. FF are as crooked as my knob, yet strangley seem to be doing OK, but FG just dont inspire any confidence whatsoever.
The rest arent worth a toss.

irish_bob

Kernel Quote:
Originally Posted by irish_bob
thier is a question i have been asking myself now for quite some time
that question is , why oh why are the pd,s so unpopular
to me , the pd,s are indicitive of celtic tiger ireland , to me they would seem like the ideal party for young educated professional go getters of which thier is a generation of in this country ,
thier are thousands of people in this country , particulary in the age group under 30 who in the past 10 yrs have embraced irelands new found wealth


No, I think you have completely over-estimated the demographic you have quoted. Most people in the country are pissed off and under severe pressure financially speaking. Celtic tiger or no. You're judging the populace by your circle of friends/work colleagues I reckon.

PD's = Irish version of Thatcher's Conservative party.

Also, wealth != happiness, social harmony, civic contentment.



none of my friends vote pd because i live in the countryside , not the south side of dublin , so sorry to burst your pre concieved cliched bubble about where pd voters must live
my friends like a lot of young people who live in the country vote for the party thier family vote for
a lot of people became defensive in here when i made that suggestion
try not to take such an accusation personally , while the idea might be abhorrent to many , surely you must admit that it does happen in a lot of cases
oh and im neither a barrister or some other kind of knob who plays rugby
i am not religously a pd voter , thier are only 3 partys i would ever vote for
fianna fail , fine gael and the pd,s
the rest are into giving the state more power and you cant trust the state in my opinion , be it the inneficent bloated public service or the guards for that matter,
the reason i would slightly favour the pd,s over the other 2 is fine gael are a pretty conservative party on social issues plus thier a bit cautios also , its easy to spot a fine gael voter , they wouldnt chance thier arm to save thier life, fianna fail , well thier the quintesential irish party , thier only idealogy is being in power , thier cute hoors and thier supporters while charismatic people are quite parochial in outlook

also , while voting pd for some people might be unthinkable , some would never admit to it becaue thier street cred would take a nose dive alone
surely you can see why the pd idealogy has been fostered more than any other in the past decade
oh and to the person who said that the celtic tiger has resulted in only a few getting rich , hogwash , just count the shiny new cars on the road
most people are not strugling compared to say 20 yrs ago, your listening to too much LIVELINE

this thathcherite tag that the pd,s get , is this just used as a term of abuse because most irish people hold margeret thatcher in complete contempt
northern ireland aside , she was pretty good on the uk economy
before she came to power , the unions in the uk had the country by the short and curlys
if bertie got his way , that might happen here too unfortunatley such is berties unwillingness to even alienate any votes from fianna fail stroke labour voters
also the line that the pd,s are anti worker , whats that about , low taxation has been one of the key reasons why we have had such growth in thee economy in this country , the pd,s have always been a low tax party
i know we have a high degree of indirect taxation in this country

the stamp duty debacle springs too mind, by the way the reason brian cowan didnt get rid of it and ensure a 3rd term for fianna fail was the thick bull preferd to get one over on the pd,s because they were the ones who 1st
suggested it should be scrapped

the pd,s have always championed the private sector worker , seeing that the private sector create all the wealth for much lower wages than the average public sector worker , ie the nurses and thier cynical opportunistic grab before an election
how can anyone say the pd,s are anti worker

i have stated in the last post and this one that thier must be a sizeable demographic out there who,s natural home is the pd,s . theese people are the popes children as david mc williams called them
the people who work hard , play hard and have cast off the shackles of the likes of the church who the other 2 centre right partys still have close links with
i think perhaps thier are 2 reasons why the pd,s are not getting theese peoples vote
1, theese people are too busy working too bother voting
2. the pd,s get such a bad rap in the media , they are such an uncool party to be associated with , young people would much perfer say they support sinn fein even though the united ireland policy aside , sinn fein would do nothing but take from theese people ,

i guess untill michael mc dowell who is seen as a bit of an ogre and mary harney who is seen as dour also bow out , the pd,s will continue to be a tiny party

nesf

irish_bob wrote:

oh and im neither a barrister or some other kind of knob who plays rugby

Really, that was completely unnecessary and an utterly pointless comment. Less of it please.

Ruen

irish_bob wrote:

the pd,s will continue to be a tiny party

With any luck:)

swiss

I had at one time quite a deal of respect for the PDs. I felt that the foundations on which they were built was that of integrity and a true desire to do public service based on the aspirations of Des O'Malley. Although they were never large, and their message of free market reform and curbing of a bloated public service often proved unpopular, at least you knew where you stood with them.

However, their current record in government has disillusioned me greatly. While one time they might have walked away from a FF led government in the wake of revelations over Bertie, they did not several occasions where it was not only appropriate but the only decent thing to do. The "watchdogs" of government have become the pussy cats. Michael McDowells truly excellent café bars legislation was shot down by publican FF backbenchers without so much as a murmur, and the health service is still in chaos despite attempted reform.

The upshot of this is that I feel that a vote now for the PDs might as well be a vote for FF. I really see no hugely discernible difference between the two parties.

With respect to the election, I plan on voting FG - Labour - Greens - Ind - PD - FF - Other - SF in that order in the next election. I don't see that changing unless something really quite dramatic happens, though I intend to scrutinise all of the parties carefully.

Sad Professor

Sad Professor wrote:

I'm gonna spoil my vote, thank you very much . Can you add an option for that?

You'd be better off using it tactically against the candidate that you would least like to get in.
For example if you think 2 candidates will be close,give it to the one you'd rather beat the other.

My first preference will be to labour.

Ulster9

Will vote Sinn Fein.

JerkyBoy

I have no party allegiances whatsoever, but I know for a fact that I want a change of Government.
I like what I'm hearing from Enda Kenny about this "Contract" and I admire Pat Rabbitte as a thinker and speaker.

However, neither are in my constituency so I have to figure out how I will vote.

There's a great independent in my area who opposes the current Government so she may get my number 1.

But I also may vote FG,LAB or LAB,GF just because they ARE the alternative Government and I think they would do a better job than the current shower of wasters.

Still undecided which order my vote will go FG? LAB? GREEN? IND? but it will definitely be spread among these.

Time for the muppets to step aside!

Raskolnikov

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

That clot just sent a leaflet through the door advocating a Luas for Cork City and the entire metropolitan area, an SSIA-style pension giveaway, some green issues crap, one teacher for every pupil, blahdeblah. Basically, he's going against everything that the PD's seem to espouse in order to win votes. I'd have given him a first preference if he had challenged these useless wastes of taxpayers cash.

nesf

Who moved this thread out of interest?

nesf

nesf wrote:

Who moved this thread out of interest?

Twas WWM.

Stephen

Why aren't polls allowed here? I had a look through the "politics guidelines" thread and found no mention of them. "No polls" seems to be a fairly bizarre policy for an election forum!

Dave!

It's the policy of the main politics forum.

God forbid an exeption could be made for the bloody general election :rolleyes: Sure the forum is barren as it is! Don't want anything else taking away from the discussions, rare as they are!

Oh no wait..........

Raskolnikov

DaveMcG wrote:

It's the policy of the main politics forum.

God forbid an exeption could be made for the bloody general election :rolleyes: Sure the forum is barren as it is! Don't want anything else taking away from the discussions, rare as they are!

Oh no wait..........

I agree. Surely we can make a once of exception. Might be fun.

The previous one was wiped out too?

jem

FF and proud of it.

ballooba

jem wrote:

FF and proud of it.

Like a baby after doing a dirty nappy.

Closing this.
Theres now an open poll in the new sticky thread.