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Peter Defeel's avatar

I would say that the swing voter views are entirely consistent and sane and it’s the higher level ideologues that are inconsistent and weird. Left wingers who are pro worker and pro unlimited immigration are entirely inconsistent.

Taxing people who earn more than but not at your level can be dismissed as hypocrisy only if you assume the swing voter is likely to be rich, but he’s probably median income, so it’s just a matter it taxing higher earners.

Jailing people who are “taking the piss” makes sense. Rehabilitation and treating prisoners well is fine but if it doesn’t work - for serial offenders - it’s time to get tough.

Arguably most labour movements post war were socialist and often illiberal. Or for sure, non liberals voted for them, certainly by today’s standards. Catholics for instance, largely preferring Labour.

The inconsistency was with the higher level ideologies - thatcher who wanted the state out of your pocket but in your bedroom.

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Woolie Wool's avatar

I think this article illustrates how silly the political compass is as a way to understand real people's political ideology. The chart turns what is a fairly nuanced position into "swing voters are tankies" by quite literally flattening it. Which shouldn't be surprising, because it was originally created by radical right-libertarians in service of their ideological project.

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