The marginal seat of Mid Dorset and North Poole has seen long and tough campaigning due to the historically close nature of the constituency.
The Liberal Democrats, thanks to Lord Oakeshott’s donation, have been able to focus heavily on their campaign here; with leaflets being dropped in the majority of houses at least twice a week, if not more.
In certain areas, leaflet’s have been dropped in everyday for the last fortnight.
However, this campaigning does not always pay off.
Many find the leaflets annoying, and long winded, which could hinder any party’s chances. Many have found, including myself, the campaigning to be too negative.
A large amount of the Lib Dem literature has been based on slandering other parties rather than promoting their own. This has then put off many of the people that have always voted Liberal Democrats in the past with Annette Brooke as MP.
In this vital target seat, the Conservative campaign has been very different to that of the Liberal Democrats.
They have focused more on door-to-door and canvassing rather than the leaflet tactics of the Liberal Democrats. Even though many people prefer not to have strangers knocking on their door, it is less annoying than having leaflets posted through almost everyday.
On the other hand, the Liberal Democrats have at least campaigned for this seat. Labour, UKIP and the Greens have done little in the way of campaigning in the area.
Even though this seat is unlikely to be won by anyone other than the Liberal Democrats or Conservatives, it does not help the local view of only being able to vote for two parties.
This further discredits the First Past The Post system where smaller parties, such as UKIP and the Green’s struggle.
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