[Killer Whale]

Anecdotal, but my mother used to vote LibDem because "they should be given a chance" more than anything else.
Then they were given a chance during the coalition and became "just as bad as all the others, aren't they?"

[Oboogie]

My Mum voted Tory in 1979 because she thought 'a woman should be given a chance' then, in a milestone for equality, Thatcher proved that women can be just as bad as men.

[davidjay]

Most thoughtful evidence based liberals who vote Lib Dem probably don't know what's in their manifestos, either.

I don’t think that is the case - particularly with respect to Lib Dems. My experience is that they’re mostly pretty well aware of the main policy positions of the party they support. In a way that Reform supporters demonstrably are not (immigration aside).

The days when the Liberals hoovered up the protest vote probably ended around the 1997 & 2001 elections, when they started getting more MPs and a lot more attention.