Billy Dean
Player Valuation: £70m
Maybe. I guess it's hard to quantify and is open to perception. Personally I feel closer to the UK when I'm in the US than in Europe and not just due to the language. But maybe that's just me.
- Status
If you grant Geert Hofstede's power distance work any credence, the UK is far more like the US (and other northern European countries, such as the Netherlands, Denmark et al) than they are France. This was evident when we were members of the EU, as we would often be most closely aligned with those nations on policy matters.
Power Distance Index – Clearly Cultural
clearlycultural.com
Gabagool
Player Valuation: £950k
It really depends. In Paris/Lyon/Marseille, I've got some leftist friends who voted for JLM and will never forgive Macron for the reforms he forced through after they reluctantly voted for him in the second round the last time around. I've also got friends who will begrudgingly turn out to vote for EM on the basis of him being the least worst option again this time around.
However, those from outside of the urban setting who voted for JLM may well have done so as a vote against the establishment, against a highly centralised, top-down hierarchy, against the neoliberal orthodoxy that the machiavellian EM embodies so perfectly. So they may well find more appealing substance in MLP's recent cost-of-living rhetoric - given that the average person on the street is often simultaneously more right-wing and left-wing than the average member of the establishment - and thus they may decide (in typical French fashion) to upset the applecart just to stick it to the «Jupiterian» leader.
We'll have to wait and see the size of each of these voter demographics, but it looks like it'll be far closer this time around.
I would say that many who might be regarded as typical Trump/Brexit voters are economically socialist and socially conservative. This is largely what Labour continues to struggle with as while most of their supporters are probably economically socialist, their urban supporters are by and large socially liberal, and this conflict explains why they never ever criticise Brexit and recently tweeted about being tough on crime.
I don't think there's one economically socialist Trump voter.
And yet the remedy for many in "left behind" communities is typically a form of economic nationalism that requires the state to play a much bigger role in the economy.
Societally we need to have a much more grown up conversation about aging than we're currently having as it is probably the biggest demographic trend we will see in our lifetime.
D
Deleted member 48881
Guest
spectateur
Player Valuation: £30m
That's 5 years ago. Things have changed and she's modified her opinions.
spectateur
Player Valuation: £30m
Which is the direct opposite of Macron free market policies.
People in rural areas are sick of the run down of local services.
Gabagool
Player Valuation: £950k
Yes exactly, I made a similar point a while back in another thread:
"I recall a professor offering the example that whilst the average person on the street would be open to rolling back the systematic privatisation of energy, water, railway industries, etc. and is overwhelmingly for large-scale public infrastructure projects, they’ll be equally keen to see a return of corporal punishment, and would reintroduce public hangings by the end of the week if given the chance"
As @Bruce Wayne alluded to above, Trump voters aren't a homogenous entity. Those swing voters in communities suffering the long-term structural effects of deindustrialisation (in Ohio for example) will prioritise infrastructure investment from central government, whereas libertarians from West Virginia will focus more on tax cuts, the culture war, and their 'second amendment rights'.
She's changed her rhetoric and tried her best to sanitise her discourse in public, and perhaps has changed her opinion on Frexit, given the pig's ear made of Britain's exit from the EU. However, as the old adage goes, when people show you who they are (the first time around), you should believe them.
Yeah, she’s just learnt she needs to appear more palatable in order to be elected.
Gabagool
Player Valuation: £950k
Zemmour running his campaign on overt racism (as well as Macron and Pécresse's persistent pandering) has helped to make her more insidious brand more palatable and statesmanlike.
Given the division between urban and rural life is even more accentuated in France, I'm inclined to believe that they're eventually destined to open Pandora's box, and just like the UK, commit themselves to a path that speeds up their own self-destruction over the coming decades as they wrestle with their national identity.
I've always thought of France and the UK as cousins - two inherently imperialist nation-states who've crafted their identities based on their cultural exceptionalism and superiority relative to other nations. I'm skeptical as to whether they'll find acceptance in being second-rate nations playing a smaller role within a multipolar world, whilst other (previously subjugated) nations come to the fore, armed with their superior natural resources and younger population demographics.
Indeed. It's perhaps worth remembering that old school socialists in the UK were generally opposed to the EU because they thought domestic workers would suffer as a result of either foreign competition in the sense of workers coming over or foreign competition in the sense of jobs leaving our shores. That's kind of what I mean by economic socialism as Trump, and Le Pen , peddle protectionism in various guises.
- Status