I find this a curious semantic exercise. Did the poll have any criteria, ex., specific issue positions, associated with the identification of left, right and centre political beliefs or was it simply a question of self-identification with the words?
In other words, do folks who self-identify as on the 'right' but vote for Libs, Dips, or …
I find this a curious semantic exercise. Did the poll have any criteria, ex., specific issue positions, associated with the identification of left, right and centre political beliefs or was it simply a question of self-identification with the words?
In other words, do folks who self-identify as on the 'right' but vote for Libs, Dips, or Cons, all believe in the same things? Say, fiscal prudence? Otherwise, these seem like fairly wishy-washy semantic categories, unless I missed something. People don't use words like left, right, centre with a great deal of consistency, it strikes me. Someone on the left of the conservative party, a Red Tory for example, is not the same as someone on the left of the Dipper social democratic spectrum.
I think these things are rather fluid, so I think the value is in comparing the results for the different parties. You're right that it is hard to place people (and place themselves), but the results make sense overall, so it seems people do have an idea of what these definitions mean in a broader sense, and the ones who don't know what these definitions mean probably cancel each other out to a great extent.
I find this a curious semantic exercise. Did the poll have any criteria, ex., specific issue positions, associated with the identification of left, right and centre political beliefs or was it simply a question of self-identification with the words?
In other words, do folks who self-identify as on the 'right' but vote for Libs, Dips, or Cons, all believe in the same things? Say, fiscal prudence? Otherwise, these seem like fairly wishy-washy semantic categories, unless I missed something. People don't use words like left, right, centre with a great deal of consistency, it strikes me. Someone on the left of the conservative party, a Red Tory for example, is not the same as someone on the left of the Dipper social democratic spectrum.
I think these things are rather fluid, so I think the value is in comparing the results for the different parties. You're right that it is hard to place people (and place themselves), but the results make sense overall, so it seems people do have an idea of what these definitions mean in a broader sense, and the ones who don't know what these definitions mean probably cancel each other out to a great extent.