Last Saturday I asked readers of this blog two questions: whether you had ever voted Conservative (I’m taking ‘yes’ to mean ‘actual or potential Conservative voter’ and ‘no’ to mean ‘much less likely to be a future Conservative voter’) and I asked whether you preferred Jeremy Hunt or Boris Johnson. And I asked you why? 263 of you responded.
This was more a bit of fun, obviously, than any serious attempt to gauge opinions in a highly meaningful way, but the results are interesting.
Potential or actual Conservative voters were the minority of respondents – they always are on this blog. And if you are now in your 80s and once voted Conservative in your 20s and have never done so since then you would be in this category.
I was a bit surprised that ‘potential Conservative voters’ opted for Jeremy Hunt quite strongly;
That surprised me a bit. After all, the odds show Boris as 8 to 1 on favourite in this two-horse race (Betfair odds checked this morning) so if you think potential Conservative voters really might favour Jeremy Hunt then you might be able to make your fortune.
Non-Conservative voters opted for Jeremy Hunt too, a little more strongly …
… and that’s not really surprising at all.
It is striking that the latest You Gov poll (published yesterday , with data collected on Wednesday and Thursday) suggests that Jeremy Hunt has a lead with the public as a whole. That YouGov poll seems to demonstrate the irrationality of Conservative voters – more Conservatives think that Hunt would be the better Prime Minister than think Johnson would be, and more Conservative voters think that Johnson would be a bad Prime Minister than think that of Hunt, but all the same, more Conservative voters would pick Johnson than Hunt! Not that many more though…
When you look at the free text responses of ‘potential Conservative voters’ then here are some comments which I have selected but I’d say they are pretty representative in tone and content. First, ‘potential Conservative voters’ supporting Jeremy Hunt:
Lesser of two evils.
Least worse
Because the other candidate is the more overtly misogynistic .
Boris would be a complete embarrassment as leader of this country. His bumbling, disorganised, error strewn dialogue is comical as a TV character but unthinkable as UK Prime minister on a global stage. A UK “Donald Trump”. Jeremy Hunt is at least credible.
In a contest down to two God-awful dodgy white middle-aged rich men, I chose the one who was not Alexander ‘Boris’ Johnson.
Because we voters only have the choice of these two and Johnson is going to be an absolute disaster.
Literally the lesser of two evils and to be honest is more statesmanlike on a global stage in terms of being a figurehead. I voted for our local Tory in the 80s because he was one of the good ones but the party has shifted too far right. I’d never vote them again.
Do not trust Boris
…and now ‘potential Conservative voters’ supporting Boris Johnson;
More likely of the two to honour the peoples vote and take us out of the EU. If we don’t get a clear separation from them this issue could blight both UK & European politics for generations to come and important issues such as climate change/environmental destruction will always be secondary issues.
Because Jeremy Hunt is a ‘remainer’ at heart like Theresa May. He originally voted remain and I think Boris will adopt a more rigorous negotiating stance with the EU officials in Brussels.
He seems to be more forthright and straight talking
Entertainment Value – we’re going down so may as well do it with a smile on face 😉 And it may just work.
Of the two, he’s the only one who understands how Article 24 works and is, therefore, likely to secure our departure on 31 October – thereby saving £40 billion which we volunteered to paywhile being under no legal or moral obligation so to do . . .
Because I want us out of the EU.
Boris is the nearest equivalent we have to a Churchill – far from perfect (but who is?) but has the brains and the charisma to wrestle with the EI in a way which T May never did.
Boris has promised to cancel the proposed Heathrow expansion as well as HS2
Best chance of Brexit being delivered so the whole country can move on. The democratic will of the people was expressed and must be honoured. At the moment Farage needs squashing as all he represents is the unsavoury side of Brexit and Johnson is the man to do that. A general election may well be required but it must be after Brexit is delivered. I’m pleased Gove didn’t get through and hope he remains as environment minister, which I believe he has had more achievements in than any of his recent predecessors. Sorting out a forward thinking Agri and environment policy is one of the few great benefits to Brexit, it’s incredibly exciting to be able to extricate ourselves from the deeply flawed CAP.
Because he is most likely to stop the Marxists ruining our country
But when we look at those ‘non-Conservative’ voters their responses are represented by these types of comments. First the pro-Hunt comments:
There is no option for ‘neither’. Forced to make a choice perhaps Hunt is marginally less odious than Johnson – but only marginally.
I don’t want either of them to be the next Prime Minister and resent that fact that one or other will be imposed on us. Having said that BJ is an irresponsible, dishonest, loose cannon, interested only in his own advancement and therefore Hunt is the lesser of two evils.
Lesser of two evils (there is something profoundly wrong with our democracy if a man of Boris Johnson’s character is deemed fit to hold the office of PM, with so much in his track record that points to an utter disdain for the truth and unabashed recklessness; while there might be a perverse pleasure in watching him being forced struggle with the unavoidable realities of Brexit, the UK’s international reputation would sadly be damaged further, to all our detriment).
Anyone’s better than boris
Because he seems slightly less ghastly a prospect. Neither of them is fit for the office of PM. But for as long as we are stuck with the Tories in power we can only hope they don’t put a sociopathic populist into No. 10.
Johnson is totally despicable and unfit for public office, whereas Hunt is ever so slightly less so. And while it’s tempting to think that Johnson might win and then quickly implode, that’s too dangerous a strategy. There’s less chance of Hunt doing something completely mad when his non-existent Brexit strategy hits the buffers.
Because Johnson is a liar and a charlatan who should not be trusted with organising a village whist drive let alone running the UK government.
…and now the pro-Johnson ones:
I think that of the two, he is most likely to crash and burn the quickestHe might actually, finally, get us out of the E.U.
To lance the boil. My theory is he’ll finally get to be PM, make a hash of it, make a hash of Brexit, and we can have a general election.
Because he is more likely to crash the Conservative party quickly, doing less damage overall.
He offers the best hope of a GE due to his utter incompetence.
Because I want to damage the conservative party.
I am not keen on either candidate and am appalled by the Conservatives in general. I gave the answer Boris Johnson because I think he is the most likely to give rise (albeit probably unintentionally) to a General Election sooner rather than later.
If you were to take these views at face value (and I wouldn’t recommend you used them for anything except some thoughtful contemplation, or a quick giggle), then you might think that they suggest that voters as a whole prefer Jeremy, but that some non-Conservative voters, perhaps even anti-Conservative voters, are rather hoping that Boris gets chosen, as despite the harm they think this might do to the country it might lead to a general election that the Conservatives might well lose and a better outcome eventually. This is not surprising – those thoughts have gone through my head too.
The above survey was mostly for fun and attracted 263 responses in just under a week. Have a look at this blog’s summer readers’ survey which is a bit more serious and has already attracted over 650 responses in just two days (it takes 2-3 minutes to complete).
[registration_form]
“Honour ” the peoples vote!! If one looks at the population as a whole only 38% of us voted leave the rest voted remain or did not vote ( non voting is usually taken as a support for the status quo) Thus we should NOT be leaving the EU.
My partner is German although she has lived here since 1979 and I take most of my holidays in Europe, plus I don’t want the risk of becoming the 51st state of the USA.
” to prevent the Marxists ruining the country” The bloody capitalists have been doing a damned good job of that for eons!
I once had a T shirt with the following slogan on the front “I NO LONGER NEED SEX”
on the reverse it said “BECAUSE I AM F****D BY THIS GOVERNMENT EVERYDAY” Still so true now, as it is and has been for ordinary folk under every bloody Tory administration.
Two cheeks of the same British arse. A country gets the leaders it deserves. The British have been digging a hole for themselves for decades thanks to the arrogance and entitlement displayed by some of your respondents in regard to the EU. Instead of following the British media line and obsessing over two ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ personalities it might be pertinent to consider the failed institutions and attitudes that created the Brexit crisis and the consequent absence of authority, or even process, which prevents it being addressed.
We’re choosing between black death or ebola here, with these two candidates; no matter who wins, a lot of people are going to die horribly due to their insane policies.