by Jim Rose in constitutional political economy, politics - Australia, Public Choice Tags: 2016 Australian federal election, antiforeign bias, antimarket bias, expressive voting, free trade, globalisation, left-wing popularism, makework bias, rational irrationality, right-wing popularism

How can Pauline Hanson be an extreme right-winger if half of her votes come from people who 2nd preference the Australian Labour Party? This strong support for her populism has been well-known since she won the safest Labour Party seed in Queensland in the 1996 Australian Federal Election but is hardly ever mentioned by the media or her critics.

Source: Antony Green’s Election Blog: Preference Flows at the 2016 Federal Election.

It should be therefore no surprise that a lot of her views have popular support because she has support across the political spectrum. Not knowing that will means you will be not very good at combating her views which you simply do not understand where they come from.

Few of her supporters see themselves as extremists and will be insulted when you suggest they are. Listen here dummy is no way to win back votes of people who just voted for you recently.

Hanson’s support among Labour voters is increasing. Only 42% of her voters gave their 2nd preference to Labour in previous federal elections for the House of Representatives.