politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Prize Competition: Your chance to win the definitive work on what happened at GE2017
I’ve just got my copy of the Phil Cowley/Denis Kavanagh study of the 2017 general election. As well as an excellent narrative on what was going on there’s also a detailed statistical analysis of the results from John Curtice and others.
Interesting that everyone so far seems to be expecting O'Rourke to either win by a fair margin or by a distance. Although I hardly expect Cruz to win by a landslide, it isn't the most fertile of territory for the Dems and if Cruz doesn't win easily expect it to be close.
This election is interesting because Cruz is so manifestly odious but it is not currently even the closest. There are several incredibly close races. The latest poll in Missouri made it a tie and the republican is an average of 0.5% ahead. Florida is very close too. If the democratic wave is losing momentum several races where they have tiny edges may start to swing against them.
Interesting that everyone so far seems to be expecting O'Rourke to either win by a fair margin or by a distance. Although I hardly expect Cruz to win by a landslide, it isn't the most fertile of territory for the Dems and if Cruz doesn't win easily expect it to be close.
The lowest predicted vote share is 46.29% which is higher than any of the last four polls.
Differential turnout in favour of the Democrats? Third-party squeeze in a tight race?
Just read the first chapter - (free sample on Kindle) - jolly good read. Bought the Kindle, as I suspect my Brexit vote estimate (as good a random number as any) may be on the high side.
I think he's being overhyped because it's an interesting story.
MY ENTRY
That's closer, but I would personally be surprised to see O'Rourke get 40%. Last time it was 40.6%, with a well known and popular candidate. Admittedly that still showed consistent improvement over the decades. But I wonder if polls are overstating the Dems because, as with Trump or Corbyn, people in the right places are embarrassed to admit they're voting for Cruz.
Why do they bother? It must be a slightly weird hobby, like trainspotting (sorry Sunil). Probably means I am a bit high though.
Sunil is not a trainspotter, is he? He seems to be collecting train routes rather than details of the trains themselves. At least he gets to see Britain, assuming he gets a window seat.
On many of the routes, that would be tough as Class 153s are notorious for their poor layout.
I had no idea New Zealand's abortion laws were so tough. What are the historic reasons for this? Religious, or something else? Seems anomalous in a country which boasts of its progressive politics as regards representation of women?
Why do they bother? It must be a slightly weird hobby, like trainspotting (sorry Sunil). Probably means I am a bit high though.
Why do the Liberal Democrats field candidates in Liverpool Wavertree? Or Labour in Cornwall? Or the Conservatives in most of Manchester?
Because they want to be seen as representative of and interested in the whole country. Accepting no go areas would damage them overall.
If I was American I would find the Libertarian viewpoint interesting but ultimately frivolous because it is a wasted vote.
Aren't Labour a close second on some Cornwall seats?
One better than that in Exeter ( I know its really Devon) . I think they gained quite a lot of ground at the Lib Dem expense last time out. Whether that was a temporary weakness for the Yellow Peril remains to be seen.
Why do they bother? It must be a slightly weird hobby, like trainspotting (sorry Sunil). Probably means I am a bit high though.
Why do the Liberal Democrats field candidates in Liverpool Wavertree? Or Labour in Cornwall? Or the Conservatives in most of Manchester?
Because they want to be seen as representative of and interested in the whole country. Accepting no go areas would damage them overall.
If I was American I would find the Libertarian viewpoint interesting but ultimately frivolous because it is a wasted vote.
And a vote for the Liberal Democrats is not (with apologies to Foxy)?
The Liberals adopted a policy of standing in all seats under Thorpe, until the late Sixties they stood in barely half. It didn't get them many extra seats but did significantly boost vote share FWIW.
F1: backed Bottas, each way, to win in the US. He's 8.5 (9 with boost), a third the odds top 2.
He's finished second in the last two races. He's qualified first and second in the last two races. I think Vettel's shorter odds reflect name recognition and following rather than his actual chances. The Mercedes seems faster both in qualifying and race trim, and the German has been making increasing numbers of mistakes, as has Ferrari's strategy team.
I had no idea New Zealand's abortion laws were so tough. What are the historic reasons for this? Religious, or something else? Seems anomalous in a country which boasts of its progressive politics as regards representation of women?
After Northern Ireland, New Zealand has the toughest abortion laws in the Western World
This election is interesting because Cruz is so manifestly odious but it is not currently even the closest. There are several incredibly close races. The latest poll in Missouri made it a tie and the republican is an average of 0.5% ahead. Florida is very close too. If the democratic wave is losing momentum several races where they have tiny edges may start to swing against them.
If the Democrats add Florida and Missouri to the states they lead in it will be 50 50 in the Senate.
Tennessee is also more marginal than Texas on current polls and is the seat the Democrats really need for a majority. If 'O Rourke wins the Democrats have likely already won the Senate
I had no idea New Zealand's abortion laws were so tough. What are the historic reasons for this? Religious, or something else? Seems anomalous in a country which boasts of its progressive politics as regards representation of women?
In practice:
New Zealand's abortion rate (number of abortions per 1000 women aged 15–44 years) is slightly below Australia's (22.2), and the United States (21.3), but above Japan's (13.8), Finland and Scotland's (both 10.9) and many European countries.
I think Beto is showing Dems how they need to approach the South; don't apologise for believing in what you believe in, and don't try and be mushy mouthed about it, but also be really grateful that your opponent is crap.
Texas is weird enough (for instance you cannot register people to vote statewide in Texas, every county needs a different permit to allow you to register people) that turnout differential and Cruz's general unlikeability could mean Beto wins. Indeed, I'm surprised the Libertarian isn't polling higher, as I would imagine a few anti-Trump / anti-Cruz GOP types opting for him instead.
Why do they bother? It must be a slightly weird hobby, like trainspotting (sorry Sunil). Probably means I am a bit high though.
Why do the Liberal Democrats field candidates in Liverpool Wavertree? Or Labour in Cornwall? Or the Conservatives in most of Manchester?
Because they want to be seen as representative of and interested in the whole country. Accepting no go areas would damage them overall.
If I was American I would find the Libertarian viewpoint interesting but ultimately frivolous because it is a wasted vote.
Wasted no longer. John McAfee is going to be Libertarian candidate for 2020. He is Trump Squared.
If there was a candidate who had buried himself in sand with a cardboard box over his head to hide from police, I think I would feel obliged to vote for them.
This election is interesting because Cruz is so manifestly odious but it is not currently even the closest. There are several incredibly close races. The latest poll in Missouri made it a tie and the republican is an average of 0.5% ahead. Florida is very close too. If the democratic wave is losing momentum several races where they have tiny edges may start to swing against them.
If the Democrats add Florida and Missouri to the states they lead in it will be 50 50 in the Senate.
Tennessee is also more marginal than Texas on current polls and is the seat the Democrats really need for a majority. If 'O Rourke wins the Democrats have likely already won the Senate
I looked closely at the Betfair Exchange market on the Senate, but the odds look reasonable - 1.44 for the GOP, 4 for hung, 10 for Dems. For the Dems to win, every single close race has to go their way, plus Texas or Tennessee. Given the strength of local/personal factors in US politics, it's hard to believe in a uniform swing like that. But GOP 51 looks non-trivial too - my guess is they'll end up with either 51 or 50, plus 47-48 Dems and 2 Independent pro-Dem.
This election is interesting because Cruz is so manifestly odious but it is not currently even the closest. There are several incredibly close races. The latest poll in Missouri made it a tie and the republican is an average of 0.5% ahead. Florida is very close too. If the democratic wave is losing momentum several races where they have tiny edges may start to swing against them.
If the Democrats add Florida and Missouri to the states they lead in it will be 50 50 in the Senate.
Tennessee is also more marginal than Texas on current polls and is the seat the Democrats really need for a majority. If 'O Rourke wins the Democrats have likely already won the Senate
I looked closely at the Betfair Exchange market on the Senate, but the odds look reasonable - 1.44 for the GOP, 4 for hung, 10 for Dems. For the Dems to win, every single close race has to go their way, plus Texas or Tennessee. Given the strength of local/personal factors in US politics, it's hard to believe in a uniform swing like that. But GOP 51 looks non-trivial too - my guess is they'll end up with either 51 or 50, plus 47-48 Dems and 2 Independent pro-Dem.
Tennessee is the key Senate swing state and last night Taylor Swift who moved to the state aged 14 said she would be voting for the Democratic candidate there and urged her young fans to do the same
Almost nothing on the Today programme about the Brazilian election. I think it's one of the biggest stories around at the moment. 46% voting for a far-right demagogue in a country where white men are only about 20% of the population. (White men supposedly being the type of person who vote for this sort of candidate).
Almost nothing on the Today programme about the Brazilian election. I think it's one of the biggest stories around at the moment. 46% voting for a far-right demagogue in a country where white men are only about 20% of the population.
his previously small party doing well too I understand.
Mr. JS, trust in mainstream news would be better if they made wiser decisions about what to cover. It'll always be subjective to an extent, but some decisions are quite odd.
The Times had an interesting pair of Russia themed headlines over the weekend, particularly the targeting of teens by bot accounts. It led to another discussion with my 14 year old about the general political leanings of his peers, gamer boys from the top sets of both a white/black quite impoverished urban school and middle class and agricultural sector kids from a predominantly white semi-rural school.
In both cases the anecdotage is that kids don't really identify with UK political parties in a way that I had started to do at his age. There is a very strong divide along the lines of embracing or rejecting self-identity politics (someone referenced a Liddle article over the weekend): the gamer boys reject, and the gender divide seems pretty strong as pretty much everyone is a gamer boy post Overwatch, but it is played out through the reference points of Trump-Clinton. I don't remember a time when Americanisation was not an issue for the olds, but YouTube is my bug bear. My son is anti-identitarian and we've certainly has lots of discussions to try and nuance some of the borderline alt right and vehemently anti feminist stuff he brings up.
As to the Russian bots - he has a username which hints to dogs, and has seen a lot of attempts to befriend him with puppy images (I know, I know!), but really their US centred propoganda has thoroughly salted any more UK targeted pro Corbyn messages they might try with UK kids. My son is quite familiar with aspects of Russian culture, be it angry Gopniks (Russian chavs) on his game servers and memes, and numerous Eastern European friends with, ahem, varied views on Russia.
I'll not post much more than this today, but as a final comment, the 18-24s at the next election don't seem on course to behave in the way that you might think. Is there a good polling series on the political attitudes of those coming into the voter base that might be picking up any of this on an objective basis, with enough history to correlate with what those generations then do post 18? There's a thread header in this for someone.
Almost nothing on the Today programme about the Brazilian election. I think it's one of the biggest stories around at the moment. 46% voting for a far-right demagogue in a country where white men are only about 20% of the population. (White men supposedly being the type of person who vote for this sort of candidate).
Brazil also has a younger population spread than First World countries.
I don't know much about Brazil, but I heard the South American football expert Tim Vickery say that anyone with the means to get out of the country was doing just that.
Ha, I was wondering whether to mention the BBC's recent good news segment on parents being denied access to their children because of spurious claims made by their former spouse/partner (they decided to highlight a mother's case despite the vast majority of such instances happening to fathers).
Every year more than a million people are victims of domestic abuse in the UK. Often the focus is on helping the victim find safety - but what of the abusers? Should they be given help? And can they change?"
"Rachel is now an advocate for survivors and hears from lots of women seeking support."
Male victims of domestic violence are often estimated at around 30-40%. One Canadian study (an outlier, to be fair) had them in the majority. The idea that perpetrators of domestic violence = men is one of those little sexist tropes deemed acceptable because it's misandry, which has brilliantly led to male refuges being horrendously underfunded.
The Times had an interesting pair of Russia themed headlines over the weekend, particularly the targeting of teens by bot accounts. It led to another discussion with my 14 year old about the general political leanings of his peers, gamer boys from the top sets of both a white/black quite impoverished urban school and middle class and agricultural sector kids from a predominantly white semi-rural school.
In both cases the anecdotage is that kids don't really identify with UK political parties in a way that I had started to do at his age. There is a very strong divide along the lines of embracing or rejecting self-identity politics (someone referenced a Liddle article over the weekend): the gamer boys reject, and the gender divide seems pretty strong as pretty much everyone is a gamer boy post Overwatch, but it is played out through the reference points of Trump-Clinton. I don't remember a time when Americanisation was not an issue for the olds, but YouTube is my bug bear. My son is anti-identitarian and we've certainly has lots of discussions to try and nuance some of the borderline alt right and vehemently anti feminist stuff he brings up.
As to the Russian bots - he has a username which hints to dogs, and has seen a lot of attempts to befriend him with puppy images (I know, I know!), but really their US centred propoganda has thoroughly salted any more UK targeted pro Corbyn messages they might try with UK kids. My son is quite familiar with aspects of Russian culture, be it angry Gopniks (Russian chavs) on his game servers and memes, and numerous Eastern European friends with, ahem, varied views on Russia.
I'll not post much more than this today, but as a final comment, the 18-24s at the next election don't seem on course to behave in the way that you might think. Is there a good polling series on the political attitudes of those coming into the voter base that might be picking up any of this on an objective basis, with enough history to correlate with what those generations then do post 18? There's a thread header in this for someone.
Another anecdote alert. My wife who’s a teacher did a Brexit discussion the other day with her class of fifteen year olds. More about what’s next. The choices on offer. They had a vote at the end whether to still go ahead with Brexit. 21 students, 15 go ahead, 5 remain and 1 abstain. The leavers were utterly vehement that immigration must stop, whatever the consequences. (I had given a bit of help to her in terms of what Chequers meant, what Canada style agreement meant and what Norway style EFTA meant).
Almost nothing on the Today programme about the Brazilian election. I think it's one of the biggest stories around at the moment. 46% voting for a far-right demagogue in a country where white men are only about 20% of the population. (White men supposedly being the type of person who vote for this sort of candidate).
Supposedly?
If we take say Trump and Nutall to take maybe the closest examples (although they are not actual far right demagogues) white men were (or are) some of their strongest supporters.
Although there is a rather obvious reason that would be in regards to the UK or the US or some other Western countries with White majorities rather than a blanket approach to the entire world. A leader building his popularity on attacking minorities (assuming one of those minorities is White) in a country mostly populated by Black people is obviously not going to be backed by White people, much the opposite.
Why do they bother? It must be a slightly weird hobby, like trainspotting (sorry Sunil). Probably means I am a bit high though.
Why do the Liberal Democrats field candidates in Liverpool Wavertree? Or Labour in Cornwall? Or the Conservatives in most of Manchester?
Because they want to be seen as representative of and interested in the whole country. Accepting no go areas would damage them overall.
If I was American I would find the Libertarian viewpoint interesting but ultimately frivolous because it is a wasted vote.
And a vote for the Liberal Democrats is not (with apologies to Foxy)?
To be fair, almost all votes are wasted in Single-Member Plurality.
If your candidate was third, or second by a long way, or even won by more than a few votes, you may as well have drawn a willy on your ballot paper. You either voted for someone with no chance, or someone with no chance, or just piled up another vote where your candidate won anyway.
Comments
49.01
47.42
47.65
46.31
47.30
46.46
Thank you all.
48.16 for Beto.
Close but no cigar.
He doesn't seem to be troubling the scorers much.
Differential turnout in favour of the Democrats? Third-party squeeze in a tight race?
It's a bold consensus at present.
48.52
41.27
I think he's being overhyped because it's an interesting story.
Main takeaway: no one likes Cruz, not even republicans.
https://www.nealdikeman.com
42.30 as there must be some point in the universe where a rolling average of polls = final result
51.21, and thanks for running this competition.
Good morning, everyone.
Sci-fi review: the new Doctor's hair was lovely, but Nyssa-Vex's was even more splendid.
Anyone backing Haddad for Brazil's presidency?
That's closer, but I would personally be surprised to see O'Rourke get 40%. Last time it was 40.6%, with a well known and popular candidate. Admittedly that still showed consistent improvement over the decades. But I wonder if polls are overstating the Dems because, as with Trump or Corbyn, people in the right places are embarrassed to admit they're voting for Cruz.
I'm going with 39.50%.
47.56
40.89
44.69
43.91
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/08/new-zealands-degrading-abortion-ban-breaches-human-rights-say-activists
I had no idea New Zealand's abortion laws were so tough. What are the historic reasons for this? Religious, or something else? Seems anomalous in a country which boasts of its progressive politics as regards representation of women?
If I was American I would find the Libertarian viewpoint interesting but ultimately frivolous because it is a wasted vote.
45.46
Which is fairly boring as predictions go, I guess.
43.08
Everywhere else the margin's well over 3,000 votes, usually nearer 20,000, and in two seats they're in third.
Have a good morning.
51.01
46.46
Betting Post
F1: backed Bottas, each way, to win in the US. He's 8.5 (9 with boost), a third the odds top 2.
He's finished second in the last two races. He's qualified first and second in the last two races. I think Vettel's shorter odds reflect name recognition and following rather than his actual chances. The Mercedes seems faster both in qualifying and race trim, and the German has been making increasing numbers of mistakes, as has Ferrari's strategy team.
O'Rourke 45%
Tennessee is also more marginal than Texas on current polls and is the seat the Democrats really need for a majority. If 'O Rourke wins the Democrats have likely already won the Senate
New Zealand's abortion rate (number of abortions per 1000 women aged 15–44 years) is slightly below Australia's (22.2), and the United States (21.3), but above Japan's (13.8), Finland and Scotland's (both 10.9) and many European countries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_New_Zealand
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45780889
47.35
I think Beto is showing Dems how they need to approach the South; don't apologise for believing in what you believe in, and don't try and be mushy mouthed about it, but also be really grateful that your opponent is crap.
Texas is weird enough (for instance you cannot register people to vote statewide in Texas, every county needs a different permit to allow you to register people) that turnout differential and Cruz's general unlikeability could mean Beto wins. Indeed, I'm surprised the Libertarian isn't polling higher, as I would imagine a few anti-Trump / anti-Cruz GOP types opting for him instead.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/newsbeat-45781929
45.83
49.02
Looking at the Brazil election results it looks like Bolsanaro won every district in Rio de Janeiro state:
https://politica.estadao.com.br/eleicoes/2018/cobertura-votacao-apuracao/primeiro-turno/presidente
In both cases the anecdotage is that kids don't really identify with UK political parties in a way that I had started to do at his age. There is a very strong divide along the lines of embracing or rejecting self-identity politics (someone referenced a Liddle article over the weekend): the gamer boys reject, and the gender divide seems pretty strong as pretty much everyone is a gamer boy post Overwatch, but it is played out through the reference points of Trump-Clinton. I don't remember a time when Americanisation was not an issue for the olds, but YouTube is my bug bear. My son is anti-identitarian and we've certainly has lots of discussions to try and nuance some of the borderline alt right and vehemently anti feminist stuff he brings up.
As to the Russian bots - he has a username which hints to dogs, and has seen a lot of attempts to befriend him with puppy images (I know, I know!), but really their US centred propoganda has thoroughly salted any more UK targeted pro Corbyn messages they might try with UK kids. My son is quite familiar with aspects of Russian culture, be it angry Gopniks (Russian chavs) on his game servers and memes, and numerous Eastern European friends with, ahem, varied views on Russia.
I'll not post much more than this today, but as a final comment, the 18-24s at the next election don't seem on course to behave in the way that you might think. Is there a good polling series on the political attitudes of those coming into the voter base that might be picking up any of this on an objective basis, with enough history to correlate with what those generations then do post 18? There's a thread header in this for someone.
Now a spot of reinforcing negative stereotypes: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45751016
"Panorama: Can violent men ever change?
Every year more than a million people are victims of domestic abuse in the UK. Often the focus is on helping the victim find safety - but what of the abusers? Should they be given help? And can they change?"
"Rachel is now an advocate for survivors and hears from lots of women seeking support."
Male victims of domestic violence are often estimated at around 30-40%. One Canadian study (an outlier, to be fair) had them in the majority. The idea that perpetrators of domestic violence = men is one of those little sexist tropes deemed acceptable because it's misandry, which has brilliantly led to male refuges being horrendously underfunded.
43.39
(I had given a bit of help to her in terms of what Chequers meant, what Canada style agreement meant and what Norway style EFTA meant).
If we take say Trump and Nutall to take maybe the closest examples (although they are not actual far right demagogues) white men were (or are) some of their strongest supporters.
Although there is a rather obvious reason that would be in regards to the UK or the US or some other Western countries with White majorities rather than a blanket approach to the entire world. A leader building his popularity on attacking minorities (assuming one of those minorities is White) in a country mostly populated by Black people is obviously not going to be backed by White people, much the opposite.
If your candidate was third, or second by a long way, or even won by more than a few votes, you may as well have drawn a willy on your ballot paper.
You either voted for someone with no chance, or someone with no chance, or just piled up another vote where your candidate won anyway.