Poll: Ukip just two per cent behind Tories

Politics.co.uk ^

[Moltke]

I have to ask, as an outside observer:

Nigel Farage of YouTube fame seems to be the only visible face of the UKIP. Who else is there to pick up the game if those poll numbers happen to turn into actual parliament seats? Is it just a one man show or is there a credible team of capable men and/or women? Who are these others?

[Viennacon]

That makes sense. It’s actually about which districts you win individually.

[Petrosius]

The House of Commons has 650 seats or constituencies. The member is elected to each constituency who has a plurality, not majority, of the votes. If the Conservatives and Labour alternate in winning 1st and 3rd place in all the constituencies while UKIP comes in with a strong 2nd in them all then the Conservatives and Labour would split the seats according to who had the 1st place in each constituency while UKIP would get none. But if UKIP could gain a few more votes to pass the Conservatives or Labour in some of the constituencies then the outcome would be drastically different.

[Moltke]

How can it makes sense that one party gets a higher share of the vote than another, that they get LESS parliamentarians.

Because the LibDems manage to get a majority of votes in some constituencies, whereas the UKIP does not. That would be the obvious answer to my reckoning.

Those quoted poll numbers do not discriminate by electoral districts, unless I'm mistaken.

So there may be a healthy support for the UKIP overall, but it is "spread too thin" to translate into parliament seats.

Countries like the US and the UK prefer this to a true representative (and then multiple party - e.g. the failure of the Weimar Republic where each vote actually counted) system. Toss a coin to determine which is better...

[pgkdan]

Thanks for clearing that up!

[Viennacon]

So, UKIP would only win one district? Well, that makes sense, but that does mean the entire thing could change drastically if UKIP began to edge out conservatives in their districts.

[Moltke]

Discussed and answered in prior posts.

The question remains, though (unanswered by the thread starter): Who else besides Farage is there? Everyone’s favorite YouTube wonder boy alone won’t cut it.