One more night. Today is the last day of the election campaign here in the U.K. As an immigrant in this country barely a month since I arrived here in Portsmouth, I can’t help but notice the similarities and differences of election campaigns in the U.S.
Yesterday Boris Johnson was on TV campaigning in the Labour heartland, holding fish in Grimsby with his top gear. Today he started the day knocking door to door, delivering milk in various places. Meanwhile, Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson rallied supporters with their message STOP BREXIT, and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon was seen at Greengrocer in Edinburgh holding broccoli and tossing squash in the air.
It’s pretty hilarious to see that all politicians anywhere in the world they all have the same strategy; it’s either holding fish or carrying babies. I’m reminded of Philippine presidential candidate Mar Roxas drinking water with his cupped hand. This made a lot of noise on the internet and netizens make fun of him to this day.
Johnson’s slogan of “Get Brexit Done” reminds me of Trump’s “Make America Great Again”. He repeats this slogan every time he is in front of a microphone. He then continues with promises that he will get the U.K. out of the E.U. by the end of January 2020.
Yesterday, I watched a BBC show held in Crewe hosted by Victoria Derbyshire, called “what’s on the minds of the undecided voters.” It aims to help them clear their minds and persuade them to vote on Thursday. Another show followed in the afternoon where BBC editors explained the views of the parties to the undecided. They explain each party’s stand on issues like the NHS, the price of medicines, is it safe from privatization etc. It was a good idea to have journalists explain the party policies to them since they are less biased than politicians, plus they also have a person who fact checks during the show. At the end of the show many of the undecided were gradually deciding but still most of them said they will decide on the day they vote.
https://twitter.com/vicderbyshire/status/1203972625560752128
I notice that the undecided here in the U.K. are pretty much the same in the US. A lot of their concerns stem from being uninformed. In reality their concerns are already addressed in the party manifestos. Some said they are confused and undecided because they felt the campaign was becoming too “American”. This made me wonder whether Brits like Americans or not?
I’ve heard they’ve been saying this for the past 70 years, and as far as I know Brits do like Americans. A friend told me that the British once had an Empire around the world, so they think the whole word should think like the British. He went on saying that I will go through many levels of culture shock here in the U.K., in fact “trigonometry level” – Haha. The problem is that there are lots of uninformed people in both countries.
Many of the people interviewed on the program said they were former Labour voters. They said Jeremy Corbin promises too much – this puzzled me because if a politician does not promise anything they also say he does not have a plan. Others said that although Jo Swinson has good ideas, she is too young. I thought, “so her age is an issue, but it doesn’t matter if she has good ideas?”
So, what is the difference between U.K. and U.S. elections? My answer: I don’t see any.
Effe moves to the UK 