‘Friends and family’ are the second most trusted source of information about politics in the UK. According to a recent poll commissioned by UNISON, only Martin Lewis, the Money Saving Expert is more trusted (and only by 4%).
What does that mean?
It means that your thoughts, your opinions and your voice hold a lot of power – IF you use them.
That is never truer than in a campaign where the polls show one party on course for a heavy majority. It’s easy to assume the election is a foregone conclusion. It’s not.
Until the polls close at 10pm on 4 July, every single vote is crucial. There are no safe seats if people start assuming the results of elections before they vote, and getting the vote out on the day is vital.
This is a guide on how to have political or voting conversations with your friends and families.
It’s not one-size-fits-all, it’s not a list of policies to parrot, and it’s certainly not a bunch of attack lines to shame people for their opinions – it’s more thoughtful than that.
It helps you have open political conversations, to actually discuss issues and to encourage people to understand the importance not only of who they vote for, but that they vote at all.
Fighting apathy
Voter apathy is real – in the 2019 election, turnout was just over two thirds. Possibly the most important way to make use of your power is to make sure that your friends and family vote.
So be ready to talk to your friends and family, and have answers for typical responses as to why they won’t be voting:
- ‘What’s the point of voting – my vote won’t make a difference to what I care about’
This is a self-fulfilling cycle. Take this example – why do politicians seemingly prioritise issues that affect older people over the young? Because older people are more likely to vote, so campaigning on those issues wins more votes.
The more people vote based on particular issues, the more politicians take notice and do something about them, so voting based the issues that matter to you helps turn them into a reality.
- ‘Politicians are all the same’
The sound-byte versions of high-profile politicians you see in the national media can give this impression. But politics isn’t just based on 20-second interview answers.
Take a look at your local candidates, what do they say about the local area, what are the things that matter to them for the area, they may have some ‘party-lines’, but they might also be willing to show more of their personal beliefs and ambitions.
- ‘I’m in a safe seat, there’s no point me voting.’
Every single election, this attitude will see ‘safe seats’ turn unsafe. It’s a simple argument, what if everyone thought this way?
Until 10pm on 4 July, there are no safe seats, every seat in the country must be earned and if you want to see change in this country, you MUST vote for it.
Having political conversations
Now that your friends and family are voting (hopefully) comes a trickier part.
Having conversations about politics isn’t always easy, particularly during election campaigns, where people can feel overwhelmed and exhausted by the constant barrage of information and media.
People have their own ideas and opinions and although you might not be able to change minds to your point of view, you can help persuade people to think again about the things you care about. If only in small steps!
There are three key parts to a political conversation:
- Opening and framing the conversation
- Focussing in on issues
- Closing out the conversation
Opening and framing
The easiest way to open and frame the conversation is to ask the other person what they think and feel about an issue.
- “Tell me…”
- “What do you think about…?”
- “What is happening at the moment…?”
- “What impact has this had on you and your family…?”
By doing this, you open the conversation on their terms, they feel more comfortable, more in control and more open to changing their mind.
The worst thing you can do in a political conversation is tell someone, straight away, that what they think is wrong – this is a surefire way to make people entrench themselves in their views.
Take the time to understand what they think and why they think it. Be open, receptive and try to really understand what they’re attempting to get across.
Focussing in on issues
The next step is to open up the discussion with focussed questions. These allow people to search their memory for examples around the issue. It also introduces hope into the conversation and allows people to understand there is space and opportunity to make change through politics.
- “What matters to you?”
- “What would you like to see happen…”
- “What difference would you like to see…”
- “What do you think are the alternatives?”
By turning the conversation towards what they want to see – towards hope and alternatives – it moves the conversation past the idea that ‘nothing will ever change’ and fights voter apathy.
If you know about the subject it also allows you to help them move past the deafening election noise in the media and show them the real solutions that are being proposed to the things which matter to them.
But it’s also okay to say you don’t know. If you don’t know an answer, or a party’s policy on something, just say. People don’t expect their friends and families to be all-knowing, saying you don’t know reinforces that you’re being honest.
Diving deeper into particular issues also allows you to move the conversation towards the local element of national elections. We all vote for our constituency MPs and – often – local MPs can be clearer about what they stand for, are easier to relate to and put a friendlier face on political parties. Find out what the local candidate thinks about your issue.
Closing the conversation
Understand that, when people are firm in their views, trying to elongate conversations in an attempt to persuade them can just cause them to dig in and close themselves off even more to changing their opinion.
Often, in closing the conversation, you might need to ‘agree to disagree’, and accept that you haven’t changed their mind, for now. But with a topic as constant as politics in an election campaign, change is not immediate and there is still opportunity to make progress.
Closing out the conversation doesn’t necessarily mean closing out the issue:
- “We’re never going to agree – and that is fine – but perhaps you might want to find out more by looking at…”
- “That’s good but you might find this website really interesting”
You don’t need to have won a firm commitment to vote the way you want them to at the end of the conversation. The aim is to have helped them clarify their thoughts about a political issue that matters to them, and to have offered up information that might help them decide how to vote.
