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The Forum > Article Comments > Where did all the Democrats voters go? > Comments

Where did all the Democrats voters go? : Comments

By John Cherry, published 3/2/2005

John Cherry argues that the Democrats will need help from smaller parties to make a meaningful stand at the next election.

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I'm not religious in the traditional sense,but AMEN to your post.
Posted by Arjay, Wednesday, 16 February 2005 11:42:51 PM
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What none of the analysis seems to explain is the complete and utter collapse of the Democrat vote in the Adelaide suburbs, and yet a curious levelling effect. Coromandel Valley in Boothby fell from 31% to low single digits, yet no 2001 low single digits fell significantly, and some even went up. I refer to Adelaide specifically because they were universally getting double digits in almost every polling place in that city prior to 2004. But it is almost unheard of for an active long-medium-term party's vote to just utterly collapse like that at one election. What factors were involved? Were the Democrat party actively working to get votes in the first place, or did they take these electorates (Adelaide, Port Adelaide, Hindmarsh, Boothby, Sturt and the former Bonython) for granted?

My personal belief is that people do not take the Democrats seriously any more after the protracted leadership tussles which managed to seize headlines even when Labor had its own issues. They alienated the left with Lees, then the right with Stott-Despoja, but even a lot of this occurred before 2001 and they still preserved a high primary vote. I think figuring this one out is critical to understanding the way that voters think and act in Australia.
Posted by OrderInChaos, Saturday, 9 April 2005 5:02:05 PM
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I suspect Democrats voters can be divided into two groups:

1. People who are interested in policy, and prefer that of the Dems;

2. People who don't have much knowledge of what the Dems stand for, but feel the Dems "keep the bastards honest". Personality voters are likely to be part of this group.

I think the second group has historically been much larger than the first. The plan to launch a "progressive coalition" will only succeed if first a larger number of people become interested in policy.

This is not impossible. One way to do it would be to follow Glenn Druery's lead and launch a host of new single issue microparties. l4f could handle the environment, a renamed PT First/CBC could do transport, etc. This would allow people with a single strong interest to vote for their views on that interest instead of forcing them to pick a whole package. Imagine how many votes a "Refugee Reform" party would get...

A Democrats party in the middle of this could even appeal to old Liberal voters by going all Menzian and talking about the groups of "forgotten people" that it's representing.

The secong group may be easier to reach though. It would require a popular new leader and a few whistleblowing exclusives.
Posted by Matt Cook, Monday, 18 April 2005 1:20:04 PM
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