PP and VOX voters: what they demand from a right-wing government

What PP and VOX voters demand from a right-wing government

What does someone who votes for the right expect when they cast their ballot? The question, raised in an economics forum that drew 77 replies in less than a day, has an uncomfortable answer: almost nobody expects much of anything. The most repeated consensus is not an economic programme, nor a tax cut, nor a labour reform. It is a four-word phrase: keep the PSOE out of power. From there, the list of demands scatters, contradicts itself and, at several points, turns openly hostile towards the voters themselves.

The bare minimum: oust the PSOE and shut down TV channels

The first reply in the thread sets the tone: keep the PSOE out of power. That's it. Another participant expands on it with a formula that sums up the mood: shut down the public broadcaster, withdraw subsidies from business associations, NGOs and what he calls gravy-train freeloaders. In other words, the minimum is not a governing plan, it is a list of handouts they want to stop paying for.

Some simply give up on expecting anything. One message says it bluntly: no messiah is going to come and solve the problems, and Spain's problems are not solved at the ballot box. It is the most sceptical stance in the whole thread, and probably the most honest: if you expect nothing, no one can deceive you.

Migration control, squatting and public order: the hard-line block

The second major block of demands concerns security and borders. Measures mentioned include controlling immigration, evicting squatters within 24 hours, withdrawing residence permits from those who have gone months without working, making theft a incivil offence or scrapping the Ingreso Mínimo Vital (Spain's minimum income benefit). Part of the thread argues that irregular entry is in itself a incivil act and should be grounds enough for expulsion.

The tone hardens in several messages calling for a tough hand against protests and riots. The article does not go there: these are attributed opinions, not facts, and some cross lines that are not reproduced here. What matters for the analysis is that this block works as emotional bargaining currency: if it is delivered, the voter considers himself satisfied even if his material situation does not improve. One participant admits it without mincing words: as a worker they're going to screw me, I'll have to row just the same.

The economic contradiction: scrap the IMV and cut contributions without touching pensions

Here lies the programme's blind spot. They demand eliminating the Ingreso Mínimo Vital, reducing or abolishing the self-employed contribution and, at the same time, not mentioning any pension cuts whatsoever. One message points out the arithmetic trap: if the self-employed worker pays no contributions, he will receive the non-contributory pension when he retires. Someone replies that the self-employed already create jobs and act as unpaid VAT managers for the State. The exchange goes unresolved, because no numbers can resolve it.

The most elaborate proposal in the thread is a roadmap for dismantling the IMV at no political cost: announce total elimination, wait for the protests, cut it by half, ride out a second, weaker round, and apply 25% annual reductions until the street tires of it. It is the only tactical sequence in the entire debate, and it gives an idea of just how much the voter assumes that promises are implemented in phases, not all at once.

What would make the voter feel betrayed

The question about betrayal draws more concrete answers than the one about expectations. One scenario mentioned is a government that, after winning, claims the inheritance it received is ruinous and applies austerity cuts, as is said to have peine under Rajoy. There is also the antiestéticar that the right will privatise public services without asking, or keep funding structures the voter considers ideological.

The summary is uncomfortable: the right-wing voter in this thread does not have a programme, he has a list of grievances. And he suspects, rightly or not, that the list will stay in the drawer.

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In the end, the most repeated expectation is never having to see certain characters on television again. With that, some consider their vote well spent. If that is all that is asked of a government, the bar is exactly where it is.