Michael Ashcroft Quotes
While loyalists and defectors overall said John Smith did a better job of standing up for Labour's values, they put Blair ahead on representing the whole country, appealing beyond traditional Labour voters and offering strong, competent leadership; switchers to the Tories gave him a clear lead in all categories.
Ashcroft, Michael. Minority Verdict: The Conservative Party, the Voters and the 2010 Election. Biteback Publishing, 2010.
In 1989 Russia held contested elections for the first time since the 1917 revolution. Numerous incumbent party leaders lost.
Republican Party primary elections had become very contentious. The radical right and the Tea Party, though a minority of the party, had the power to destroy almost any Republican candidate’s chances. So those Republican political candidates were forced to pander to the extreme right and then try and backtrack to the center for the general election. As a result, few people believed the statements of Republican office seekers as no one knew what they really believed including members of their own party, Bush, no longer running for any political position, found himself with much more credibility and influence in the party than those who were running for office. The problem of appealing to party extremes was not unique to the Republicans at that time, but the degree and extent was unprecedented accounting for the distrust.
This was a new political phenomenon where a President was perceived as more important, more powerful, and preferable to his party. Note that the base of the scale is labeled “Public Opinion”.
Michael Anthony Ashcroft, Baron Ashcroft, KCMG, PC is a British–Belizean businessman, pollster and politician. He is a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party. Ashcroft founded Michael A. Ashcroft Associates in 1972 and is the 95th richest person in the UK, as ranked by the Sunday Times Rich List 2017, with an estimated fortune of £1.35 billion.
