Is it worth targetting non-voters?
More or Less
BBC
4.6 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 11 September 2015
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Can you rely on non-voters During the election for the leadership of the Labour Party in the UK Jeremy Corbyn has whipped up unprecedented support among grass roots activists pushing him into a surprising lead. Bernie Sanders the left-wing Democratic candidate has done the same energised grass roots support in the United States in a similar way. Their supporters believe in both cases they can shake up the political mainstream and convince non-voters to turn out at the ballot box. But is this a wise strategy?
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How many houses do we need? We're told that we need to build 200,000+ houses a year to meet housing need in this country. We talk to Kate Barker the woman who first came up with this number about where it comes from and what it means.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thank you for downloading this program from BBC Radio 4. I'm Tim Harford. |
| 0:05.5 | Hello and welcome to more or less your guide to the numbers that surround us in the news and in life. |
| 0:12.1 | This week is it really more dangerous to be admitted to hospital at the weekend? |
| 0:17.1 | Can left-wing candidates win national elections by galvanising non-voters? |
| 0:22.8 | We will also look at refugees and of course the health effects of consuming bananas. |
| 0:29.2 | Which reminds me yeah, I can't fancy a banana. Delicious. |
| 0:38.9 | But first, what do Jeremy Corbyn, Bernie Sanders and Alexis Sipras all have in common? |
| 0:45.8 | Well a few things, they're all politicians, they're all left-wing politicians, |
| 0:49.7 | they're all hoping to get elected. Alexis Sipras wants to be Prime Minister of Greece again. |
| 0:54.1 | Bernie Sanders is challenging Hillary Clinton to be the Democratic nominee for US President, |
| 0:59.4 | and of course Jeremy Corbyn is as I speak these words standing for the leadership of the Labour Party. |
| 1:05.6 | If you're listening to our Sunday repeat, then you will know whether or not he has succeeded. |
| 1:10.8 | But there's something else Corbyn, Sanders and Sipras have in common. |
| 1:15.0 | They've talked enthusiastically about reaching out to those of us who don't usually touch a ballot paper. |
| 1:20.9 | Truth of the matter is that the media, large corporations, the people who control politically |
| 1:25.5 | our country today do not want you to participate. That's only bad for them. They want a low turnout |
| 1:32.1 | of primarily upper middle class people. They want big money to dominate the political process. |
| 1:37.0 | Their nightmare is that young people, low-income people, working people jump into the political |
| 1:42.1 | process. Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders there hoping to win the votes of people who don't vote. |
| 1:49.2 | Corbyn and Sanders are often criticised as being too left-wing to win a national election. |
| 1:54.4 | But some of their supporters argue that electoral victory is in their grasp, |
| 1:58.5 | all they would need to do is mobilize people who at the moment don't vote. |
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