Strategic Voting

I was talking to a Liberal supporter today after she asked me how I could vote for the NDP. She said this not because she disliked the NDP, but in fear that any vote not for the Liberals is a vote for the Conservatives. She actually said she'd like the green party to be in power someday. The point is instead of voting for who she wanted to win, she is voting against who she doesn't want to win. I also did this in Quebec when I voted simply because I didn't want Quebec to separate so I figured might as well try and help the other guy win.

But how do you know that playing this voting-against game is necessary? Well when you watch or read anything about the election it is the polls that set the tone. But I wonder what would happen if we had a blind election (one with no polls). If people in Ontario didn't know about the Conservatives gaining ground would those dissatisfied Liberals go NDP or Green? Or more general, how many people vote against a party instead of for a party?

Imagine that the polls suddenly showed the Conservatives diving so the Liberals would be in majority territory a few days before the election, I wonder how many people would turn to the NDP or green Party? I imagine a lot especially since the Liberals social agenda is a turtle-paced scaled down NDP platform (similar to NDP but "phased in over eternity"). Maybe the problem is the system isn't proportional representation and so all you need is a local majority for the seat.

The other problem that influence people too much is the big media outlets. Though they try to be fair, there newscasts focus on the Liberals and Conservatives making the system seem like the American system. Or are we so used to hearing about the American system that we look at our political system with an American lens?