Election 2022 (Poll added)

[Macca37]

I wrote an essay about voting patterns almost 50 years ago.  At that time, 80% of people who identified as blue collar voted Labor and 80% of people who identified as white collar voted Liberal.

A hell of a lot has changed since then; blue collar and white collar are largely redundant categories, conspiracy theories are rife, faith/trust in politicians is at an all time low, people are fearful and genuinely angry at the failure to act on climate change, there’s a proliferation of political parties, rich fat blokes pour millions into campaigns intended to make them richer, social media is an electioneering tool, younger folk are more informed and are concerned about their future, older folk are well informed and are concerned about their children’s and grandchildren’s future, we’re in the middle of a pandemic, half the country is flooded - the other half is in drought, Russia has invaded Ukraine, North Korea is firing missiles, the Chinese Communist Party is flexing its muscles, self-funded retirees are ignored by policy makers, young folk can’t afford to buy a house, etc, etc.

Voters are less predictable than they’ve ever been. 

The Silent Generation, those people born before 1946, number close to 1.4 million.

Only a small minority were educated to year 11 standard, many leaving between years 8 and 10, with possibly 3 percent going to university.  Their formative years were spent in a society that did not welcome criticism of authority, particularly governments.

Quite a number  have had neither the means nor the motivation to engage meaningfully in today's society and have retreated to the comfort of their conservative values.

This is the group I refer to as rusted on LNP voters.