@RHW

lived in Nicholls (vic) for a while, and i would say there are two big factors, there

1 is a mixed demographic with higher than vic average Indigenous population, and if irc, some sudanese. all the SKY hate is actually directed at “visible people”

2. do you remember when supermarket shelves had umpteen different brands of laundry soap, and most of them were owned by the same company? (lever & kitchen)

i believe the same marketing principle of minimum differentiation holds at election time. 9 out of 10 (don’t quote me on the figures) but most of the names on the ballot were right wing candidates the year i voted there — even the “unknowns” - it took me ages but found one of them had deleted a ton of british national front stuff from facebook

there are not enough “left” style candidates in electorates like these, to soak up the prefs of disaffected voters

major left parties consider the seats a write-off, but it’s actually a giant F.U. to left wing voters. they should be swarming the seats with candidates, imo

3. edit to add…
look at the age of voters. my dear old mum (god bless her) went from progressive in her 30s to a nasty, narrow minded old cow in her 80s. firstly, older isolated people live in a very small world where they only engage with SKY/ herald sun 5050 column (their eyesight goes) but also, my mother was a drunk so her attention span was rubbish

isolated because cheap rent = distance from other people, the internet service is shitful, and they don’t know anything about subscribing to streaming services