The media story of the European elections has been UKIP - not whether they would win or not, but by how much. Who could stop Farage and his People's Army? Hadn't the fag-and-pint-a-man colourfully captured the nation's zeitgeist (oops, is that German?)? Didn't he articulate the public mood just right?
But after several weeks of Farage overkill on the TV along with a roll-call of dodgy candidates far too long now to dismiss as the odd crank - from the man who thought gay marriage caused flooding, to the one who says women are partially responsible for date rape to the one who called for his opponents to be hanged for treason - the UKIP vote is not soaring, but flat-lining. The latest YouGov polls show that after weeks of spending his multi-millionaire funder's cash, Nigel's vote share for the European elections on Thursday has not altered at all since January and he languishes in second place.
But what the figures also show is the untold story, largely ignored by the media: the rise of the Green Party. From a 5% vote share back in March, the party has risen steadily to now be on 12%, ahead of the Liberal Democrats (the fourth national poll to show this). If the Green vote comes out this week, the party is set for a stunning result with a big increase from its current 2 MEPs.
So let's see the media cover the real story, not the manufactured purple hype.
But after several weeks of Farage overkill on the TV along with a roll-call of dodgy candidates far too long now to dismiss as the odd crank - from the man who thought gay marriage caused flooding, to the one who says women are partially responsible for date rape to the one who called for his opponents to be hanged for treason - the UKIP vote is not soaring, but flat-lining. The latest YouGov polls show that after weeks of spending his multi-millionaire funder's cash, Nigel's vote share for the European elections on Thursday has not altered at all since January and he languishes in second place.
But what the figures also show is the untold story, largely ignored by the media: the rise of the Green Party. From a 5% vote share back in March, the party has risen steadily to now be on 12%, ahead of the Liberal Democrats (the fourth national poll to show this). If the Green vote comes out this week, the party is set for a stunning result with a big increase from its current 2 MEPs.
So let's see the media cover the real story, not the manufactured purple hype.
No comments:
Post a Comment