Does being male or female make any difference to the way you vote? As the general election draws closer, a new survey for BBC Woman’s Hour by TNS has revealed which parties men and women are most likely to support.
Unusually for a political poll, the survey doesn’t ask the obvious “who are you going to vote for” question, rather it asks questions like “which political party do you think BEST understands the issues that WORRY you and your family” and “which of the following party leaders do you think BEST UNDERSTANDS what life is like for you and your FAMILY”.
The idea of constructing a political question around notions of family seems to be in line with feminine concerns about politics. In our article eight reasons UK women are more left wing than men we revealed that women seem to think more about family when making political choices.
Do men think family when voting?
According to Dr Rosie Campbell, women are more inclined to view politics through the lens of family life. In one set of focus groups, Campbell recorded 77 mentions of family from women, compared with 11 men. Lord Ashcroft Polls also found that only women mentioned “family” in their top 20 words when asked to describe the characters of Cameron, Clegg and Milliband.
Focusing on “worry” as a political motivator also seems to be a more feminine concern. The Woman’s Hour poll also asked the following question: “Thinking about the future, would you say that you are very worried, fairly worried, not very worried or not at all worried?”
The survey found that more women (52%) described themselves as being worried than men (43%) with one in seven women (14%) saying they are very worried about the future compared with one in eleven (9%) men. At the other end of the worry scale, men were nearly twice as likely to say they are not at all worried (28% to 15%).
Are men are still more right wing than women?
In recent years, men have tended to be slightly more right leaning in their voting patterns than women and the Woman’s Hour poll confirms this. More men (33%) thought UKIP and the Conservatives understand the issues they worry about, compared with 20% of women. On the left, while slightly more women (20%) support Labour than men (19%), when you add in the other left-leaning parties (Green, Liberal and SNP) then men (34%) outnumber women (32%).
The reason that more men support parties on the left AND the right is that women are more likely to be floating voters, with 46% of women not favouring any party compared with 32% of men. It this greater uncertainty about which way women will voter, which makes the women’s vote so important to politicians, as women seem to more likely than men to swing towards one party or another as an election draws near.
Which leaders do men and women love?
A similar pattern is found in terms of specific leaders with men more likely to support Cameron (15%) and Farage (13%) than women (10% support Cameron, 6% Farage) and women more likely to favour Milliband (12%) and Clegg (6%) compared to men (9% support Milliband and 4% Clegg). Men, however, are more likely to support Nicola Sturgeon (7%) and Natalie Bennett (5%) than women, with only 3% of female voters supporting these women leaders.
As with the political parties, women (59%) are more likely to say they don’t support any of the leaders than men (45%)
Which political party do you think BEST understands the issues that WORRY you and your family?
| POLITICAL PARTY | MALE VOTERS | FEMALE VOTERS |
| The Labour Party | 19% | 20% |
| The Conservative Party | 21% | 12% |
| UKIP | 12% | 8% |
| The Green Party | 6% | 5% |
| The Liberal Democrats | 5% | 5% |
| SNP (Scottish National Party) | 4% | 2% |
| Plaid Cymru | 1% | <1% |
| None of the above | 21% | 25% |
| Don’t Know | 11% | 21% |
Which of the following party leaders do you think BEST UNDERSTANDS what life is like for you and your FAMILY?
| POLITICAL PARTY | MALE VOTERS | FEMALE VOTERS |
| David Cameron | 15% | 10% |
| Ed Milliband | 9% | 12% |
| Nigel Farage | 13% | 6% |
| Nick Clegg | 4% | 6% |
| Nicola Sturgeon | 7% | 3% |
| Natalie Bennett | 5% | 3% |
| Leanne Wood | <1% | <1% |
| None of the above | 41% | 48% |
| Don’t Know | 4% | 11% |
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Article by Glen Poole author of the book Equality For Men
Also on insideMAN:
- Election 2015: the political issues that concern men and women
- BBC Woman’s Hour hides the fact that male voters are more supportive of women leaders
- Shock as new Woman’s Hour poll finds women are brilliant and men are crap
- Are men more right wing and women more left wing?
- Eight reasons British women are more left wing than men
- Should we allow gender politics to be taught in UK schools?