95 percent of people are Left Wing

I was listening to Iain Dales LBC radio show last night. One caller said that 95 percent of people are Left Wing.

 

I always find it interesting how some people delude themselves into thinking that their personal made-up fact is some how true and statistically accurate and can therefore make their point stronger.

 

Although this does bring up another question in my mind. How Left or Right Wing is the public, I could not find any UK surveys on this subject. But even if there was one I wonder how many would know where they truly stand.

 

Those of us that follow politics have a good idea as to which side of the political spectrum we fall on but it is less clear to those that don't follow politics amongst the general public. I think most people are Left and Right Wing on a subject by subject basis.

 

For example take Fred who for the sake of argument, believes everything he reads in the newspapers. Fred believes that bankers should pay a large amount of tax on their bonuses (Left Wing), Fred believes that benefits should be cut for those who are lazy and don't want to work (Right Wing), Fred believes we should not accept any more refugees (very Right Wing), Fred believes the NHS should be funded by the public purse (Left Wing). Fred believes that he is paying to much tax (If Low paid Left Wing if highly paid Right Wing). So you see the problem. People don't stick to Left or Right Wing principals but judge things on what they perceive as being fair or unfair to them.

 

This of course party explains the move by political parties to the centre and the more blurred lines between the parties. Hence resulting in Fred telling us that MP we are all the same.

 

If you are not sure what is Left-Wing or Right-Wing politics then have a read of this explanation here

 

A good way of seeing where you fall on the political spectrum is to use political compass test.