Political representation
The OzPolitics self-test here gives me a pretty accurate result. Try it and see what you think.
But it's the statistical analysis of test results that I find really interesting. Have a look at the figures under
Party accuracy analysis -
Party match rate by self reported party preference
ie - How accurately does [partyonevotesfor]'s actual policies reflect [testrespondant]'s political values?
Labour 18%
Libs 26%
That's pretty sad. It reflects how far from their supporters' values the major parties have gotten. The so-called "minor" parties by comparison score pretty highly, ie seem to actually want to do what their supporters want them to do.
Except for the poor old Nationals, at the bottom of the barrel at a measly 12%.
Even more interesting is the "Test outcome for the 2378 self reported Labor Party voters". The Greens and Democrats both score way higher than Labor, in representing the values of the people who call themselves Labor voters!
There's a similar result between the Lib/Nat voters and One Nation.
Pet theory time: people vote for minor parties because they've actually thought about their political values, and gone looking for someone who at least says they'd represent them. People vote for the major parties out of mob loyalty and inertia. This gives the major parties a free reign to ignore their voter base, and listen to power interests (and minor parties, perhaps) instead.
Gross generalisation mode off/
But it's the statistical analysis of test results that I find really interesting. Have a look at the figures under
Party accuracy analysis -
Party match rate by self reported party preference
ie - How accurately does [partyonevotesfor]'s actual policies reflect [testrespondant]'s political values?
Labour 18%
Libs 26%
That's pretty sad. It reflects how far from their supporters' values the major parties have gotten. The so-called "minor" parties by comparison score pretty highly, ie seem to actually want to do what their supporters want them to do.
Except for the poor old Nationals, at the bottom of the barrel at a measly 12%.
Even more interesting is the "Test outcome for the 2378 self reported Labor Party voters". The Greens and Democrats both score way higher than Labor, in representing the values of the people who call themselves Labor voters!
There's a similar result between the Lib/Nat voters and One Nation.
Pet theory time: people vote for minor parties because they've actually thought about their political values, and gone looking for someone who at least says they'd represent them. People vote for the major parties out of mob loyalty and inertia. This gives the major parties a free reign to ignore their voter base, and listen to power interests (and minor parties, perhaps) instead.
Gross generalisation mode off/