The Concept of the Floating Voter

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• Pumpuni 11 years ago

  "According to the Oxford Advanced Learner's dictionary,..."
  Go and learn from Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe PhD. His first line is never "According to......."

  "According to the Oxford Advanced Learner's dictionary,..."
  Go and learn from Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe PhD. His first line is never "According to......."

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• Arthur 11 years ago

  Okoampa's literary arrogance does not make him better, or more effective. The wise focus on the message's context. Are you ok?

  Okoampa's literary arrogance does not make him better, or more effective. The wise focus on the message's context. Are you ok?

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• BOY KOFI 11 years ago

  How do you know majority of the floating voters are politically illiterates?Now listen,the only logic you can use to determine why NDC is beating NPP in general elections is to look at the voting patterns of the 10 regions to ...
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  How do you know majority of the floating voters are politically illiterates?Now listen,the only logic you can use to determine why NDC is beating NPP in general elections is to look at the voting patterns of the 10 regions to indentify your weakness.You cannot become president by winning only 2 regions out of 10.Therefore,the strategy now is to neutralise NDC's winning strategy in the swing regions which are found in the coastal areas.The triangular effect of elections in Ghana is eluding the NPP.Please check the results of 2008 and 2012,you will see that Central,Western and Greater Accra regions have the same voting pattern.These 3 swing regions are where the majority of the floating voters come from.You cannot tell me their illiterates,no sir.Accra is the Capital of Ghana,Cape Coast is the first Capital of Gold Coast and Takoradi the first seaport to Europe and the whole wide world.We are not illiterates because the coastal areas are where schools started.NPP must find a strategy to win all the swing regions including Brong Ahafo to defeat NDC,that's logic.Thank you.

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• BOY KOFI 11 years ago

  correction

  correction

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• Mr. Figure-Out 11 years ago

  I, personally, was personally and ardent fun of Alan but repented after my recent visit to Kumasi some few weeks ago. The support that Nana Addo enjoy among the people, both young and old, and especially in the Zongos and amo ...
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  I, personally, was personally and ardent fun of Alan but repented after my recent visit to Kumasi some few weeks ago. The support that Nana Addo enjoy among the people, both young and old, and especially in the Zongos and among women, was so overwhelming that I had no option than to make a turn and support the most experienced politician in Ghana at the moment. My earlier support for Alan was informed by Alan's personality, not because he would be a better president than Nana, and also from the fact that most Ghanaians vote without using their heads, especially among women who used to vote for that incompetent Albino from Trokosiland because of his color.

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• Arthur 11 years ago

  Keep up the good work. Nothing is stopping Alan. He has withstood the onslaught well so far. He is resilient, and will emerge victorious in both NPP and the national elections. Ain't no stopping Alan now!
  x t H f w. more la ...
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  Keep up the good work. Nothing is stopping Alan. He has withstood the onslaught well so far. He is resilient, and will emerge victorious in both NPP and the national elections. Ain't no stopping Alan now!
  x t H f w. more later.

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• Yaw Ohemeng 11 years ago

  You have been writing very shallow articles after shallow articles. I thought it won’t be long before you put your foot in your mouth and you have done just that. You are implying in this article that Alan Kyeremanteng is p ...
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  You have been writing very shallow articles after shallow articles. I thought it won’t be long before you put your foot in your mouth and you have done just that. You are implying in this article that Alan Kyeremanteng is prepared to bribe the voter (i.e. the floating voter) to get numbers to become president. This is usually the precursor to a corrupt regime and is that what Ghana needs?
  
  Now taking you on your floating voter concept – no one is a floating voter until he/she casts a ballot. You are assuming that this ‘floating group’ is a static group which keeps on changing voting behaviour from election to election. This is not correct – every election has got its own issues and you cannot identify who is going to ‘float’ until the election issues are played out.
  
  You are also assuming that Alan Kyeremanteng would be starting from the Akufo Addo vote share and hence all that he needs to do is to add on extra support. This is also palpably false. At the moment there is absolutely no proof that Alan will hold onto the 47% Akufo Addo polled, let alone add onto it.
  
  You are terming those who switch votes between 1st round and 2nd round voting as floaters – that is also another false premise. If they have their own party candidates eliminated, they have to give their votes to the remaining two. History shows that majority of these votes have always gone to the challenger rather than the incumbent and proves nothing one way or the other.
  
  Now what determines voting patterns? First there are always new voters; they are an identifiable group, which can be targeted. However, in Ghana their numbers are ‘cooked up’. If you study number of valid votes per election, a disturbing pattern emerges. When the incumbent is standing for re-election, the number of new voters jumps up considerably. When he is not standing, number of valid voters even drop. In 1996, new voters numbered about 1.8m; in 2004, it was 2.1m and in 2012, this was 2.8m. These increases are way above the natural population increase. Thus if anyone is serious about finding the reasons for voting patterns, this is where to seek the answers.
  
  Secondly, those who vote for particular parties are of two types – hard core support and ‘soft’ support. Those who constitute the ‘soft’ support are amenable to influence. They are a fluid construct, who should be identified and wooed. Your task as a new candidate is how to hold onto your party’s ‘soft’ support whilst attracting the opposing party’s soft support. This requires a more sophisticated approach than these shallow articles have to offer.
  
  The last point which the Alan supporters fail to recognise is that the NPP as a party itself is losing their share of parliamentary votes. The parliamentary party did well in the past to climb up from about 36% of votes in 1996 to 51.4% in 2004. Now the party’s parliamentary votes stand at about 47%. What accounts for this change? What was the NPP doing well in the past that they are not doing well now? This cannot be the fault of the flagbearer. The party has a lot of chiefs and few Indians and that is the real problem.

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• Nana Kwaku 11 years ago

  Yaw, I would like to ask this Katakyie guy one question. Of all the numerous achievements he claims Alan has scored, can he point out where any of those footprints can be found? None of them can be found standing. He looks li ...
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  Yaw, I would like to ask this Katakyie guy one question. Of all the numerous achievements he claims Alan has scored, can he point out where any of those footprints can be found? None of them can be found standing. He looks like a dreamer to me.
  
  Katakyie sure is an Ashanti. Please allow me to bring in some ethnic factors. MOST Ashantis who don't lean towards Alan are getting the picture that an Akyem is not wanted at the flagstaff house. Some Ghanaians got the intel that during Kufuor's tenure, a diplomatic passport was issued to the Asantehene, seriously raising his status! This angered a lot of the paramount chiefs. So the Akyems who form an integral part of the NPP alerted themselves that if Nana Addo comes to power, the Okyehene will enjoy a similar status. The Ashantis got wind of this impending move and made sure IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN!! All because the Asantihene's useless "Primus inter paries" has to be preserved at all cost. No wonder he (Asantehene) was fingered in the supreme court case involving the judges!!
  
  I have never voted in my life, but my vote this time round will go to Nana Addo. I will explain why. I have spoken to a number of floating voters, (Katakyie should note) who have sworn to do likewise. This move, we all agreed is meant to spite the anti Nana Addo Ashantis, which includes the Asantehene of course, Kufuor, Mpiani, Kwabena Agyapong, Apraku, etc. Katakyie, please have a good day.

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• Kofi Ata, Cambridge, UK 11 years ago

  Yaw, thanks for pointing out Katakyie's false analysis of a floating voter. I do not know where he got the idea that most floating voters are "politically illiterates". In fact, some are politically active but are either libe ...
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  Yaw, thanks for pointing out Katakyie's false analysis of a floating voter. I do not know where he got the idea that most floating voters are "politically illiterates". In fact, some are politically active but are either liberals or conservatives in their ideology, whilst others do not belong to political parties. For example, in the US and UK liberal Republicans and Conservatives respectively could change their votes for a Democratic and Labour candidates respectively. On the other hand, Conservative Democratic and and Labour party members could change their votes for the candidates of Republican and Conservative parties. In these examples, though such voters are members of the two leading parties, they become floating voters by switching their votes because they disagree with the positions of their own party or party candidate. It is totally wrong for Katakyie to imply that floating voters are from outside political parties.
  
  You have said most of what were wrongly analysed by Katakyie and I need not go over them, particularly his reviews of election results in Ghana. The changing patterns in the second round is mainly due to the votes from the smaller parties who switch in between the two candidates in the second round rather than floating voters. In fact, floating voters are unlikely to change their votes in the second round. For example, Kufuor's election in 2000 was the result of all the smaller parties coming together to ensure the defeat of P/NDC. At that time voter's were fed up with the P/NDC and wanted a change but because the electoral register was bloated with ghost names, Kufuor could not win "one touch". It was not due to floating voters. On the contrary, if it was due to floating voters, then, he should have won in the first round.
  
  I do not know the characteristics of floating voters in Ghana but I guess it would not be different from other countries. That is, they are usually the middle class with good education, financially better of and concerned about the level of taxes, job security, good education, health care, etc. They therefore vote for candidates or parties that best address their concerns and interests (among other factors).

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• BOY KOFI 11 years ago

  NPP simply need to neutralise NDC's winning strategy in all the swing regions.That is the only effective strategy they have to apply.Thank you.

  NPP simply need to neutralise NDC's winning strategy in all the swing regions.That is the only effective strategy they have to apply.Thank you.

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• BOY KOFI 11 years ago

  It is about time NPP finds a way to win more regions.Without an effective strategy NPP cannot neutralise NDC's winning strategy.The leadership crisis in NPP should be solved in a matured way.Put Nana and Alan out and look for ...
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  It is about time NPP finds a way to win more regions.Without an effective strategy NPP cannot neutralise NDC's winning strategy.The leadership crisis in NPP should be solved in a matured way.Put Nana and Alan out and look for a new face like Joe Ghartey who has the potential to add another 3 more regions,the Western,Central and Greater Accra.If NPP is able to snatch the 3 swing regions from NDC,the 2016 general elections will be for them.Thank you.

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• Jonathan 11 years ago

  what u have actually forgotten is that most people support the party today because of Nana, so assuming Alan is the candidate and succeeds in getting floating voters but losses the core supporters , of what use will the float ...
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  what u have actually forgotten is that most people support the party today because of Nana, so assuming Alan is the candidate and succeeds in getting floating voters but losses the core supporters , of what use will the floating voters vote be. If u want to be the candidate come with something else and not this nonsense thing called floating voters thing.

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• K. Charles 11 years ago

  That can be true Jonathan. But what he is that that popularity has not won power for the party. Is Nana Addo who should know this. only God knows what informs his decision to contest again.I think it's not strategic for him a ...
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  That can be true Jonathan. But what he is that that popularity has not won power for the party. Is Nana Addo who should know this. only God knows what informs his decision to contest again.I think it's not strategic for him and the party. But...

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• Okatakyie 11 years ago

  Massa,
  
  Your man has never held an elective position and should have cut his teeth as an MP first. He is better off positioning himself for the floating voters in the NPP before he focuses on the national electorate at larg ...
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  Massa,
  
  Your man has never held an elective position and should have cut his teeth as an MP first. He is better off positioning himself for the floating voters in the NPP before he focuses on the national electorate at large.

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• LONTO-BOY 11 years ago

  There is no point in banging on about floating voters if the electorate do not know what Alan stands for, his leadership qualities and vision for the country, to persuade them.

  There is no point in banging on about floating voters if the electorate do not know what Alan stands for, his leadership qualities and vision for the country, to persuade them.

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• hassan 11 years ago

  nana addo'scredibility is unquestionable in terms of leadership and competency.in fact,he can be one of the best president this country everhad but,he cant win national election because of floating voters and that is a fact.w ...
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  nana addo'scredibility is unquestionable in terms of leadership and competency.in fact,he can be one of the best president this country everhad but,he cant win national election because of floating voters and that is a fact.we can only come back to if alan is elected our presidentail candidate

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• Ken Anku Esq 11 years ago

  I cannot agree with you Katakyie the more about the issue touching and concerning floating voters which numbers I describe as "insignificantly significant ". Can't NPP delegates see this?Power will elude us again if we don't ...
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  I cannot agree with you Katakyie the more about the issue touching and concerning floating voters which numbers I describe as "insignificantly significant ". Can't NPP delegates see this?Power will elude us again if we don't target this seriously for an effective intervention. Ken Anku Esq.

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• Floating Voter 11 years ago

  This is a mere bogus PARTISAN ARTICLE than the floating voters' analysis made here.
  Or you can also call it a mere bogus FRIENDSHIP-POLITICS ARTICLE!!!
  The author could've put his explanation rather this ...
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  This is a mere bogus PARTISAN ARTICLE than the floating voters' analysis made here.
  Or you can also call it a mere bogus FRIENDSHIP-POLITICS ARTICLE!!!
  The author could've put his explanation rather this way:
  A floating voter is a staunch member of a ruling political party who rather votes secretly to the opponent party at the ballot box instead to his ruling party due to unsatisfactory performance & disappointments in developments from his own ruling party.
  Hope the author will correct himself here or next article!!!

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• efua 11 years ago

  I THINK THE SO CALLED FLOATING VOTERS ARE NOT DUMB , THEY NEED A COMPETENT, CORRUPT FREE LEADER, NOT A TALL ,HANSOME ,FOOLISH , TIMID AND CORRUPT INCOMPETENT PRESIDENT.

  I THINK THE SO CALLED FLOATING VOTERS ARE NOT DUMB , THEY NEED A COMPETENT, CORRUPT FREE LEADER, NOT A TALL ,HANSOME ,FOOLISH , TIMID AND CORRUPT INCOMPETENT PRESIDENT.

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• frederick owusu mensah 0246364114 11 years ago

  THIS ARTICLE IS A MISCONCEPTION, FALLACY AND LIAR THAT NEEDED TO BE TREAT WITH CONTEMPT ITS DESERVED

  THIS ARTICLE IS A MISCONCEPTION, FALLACY AND LIAR THAT NEEDED TO BE TREAT WITH CONTEMPT ITS DESERVED

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• lord 11 years ago

  Alan can never, I mean can never be a president in Ghana. Right we are under ground and we know the reality.

  Alan can never, I mean can never be a president in Ghana. Right we are under ground and we know the reality.

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