Do the leaders wives effect how you will vote?

[SmileysPeepul]

I've been pondering this.

Since Sarah Brown came on MN and seemed really relaxed and normal, and more importantly answered my question, with an irnonic wink, which now means we are geat mates obviously, I am feeling much warmer towards Gordon, in a she's OK so he must be OK kind of way.

Sam Cam does nowt for me so far though.

In previous elections DH and I have applied the 'who would you want to you on holiday with?'test.

This year I think I may be changing tactics and ging for the 'whose wife would you want to be mates with test?'

Am I the only one who does this, do the rest of you carefully consider policy.

[meatntattypie]

hehehehe saw Justine on the news this morning making a good point about how it is daft that they think we will vote for them just because thier wives are nice.

So defo a big fat NO from me, couldnt give a toss about their partners, its the policies im interested in.

[TheFowlAndThePussycat]

No, although hearing vince cable's wife rachel smith on the radio gave me another reason to wish I could vote for him. She said Sarah brown's 'my husband, my hero' speech was 'a bit 'pass the sick bag''. I laughed out loud at that one.

[SmileysPeepul]

Oh really? Didn't see that. Srry Justine.

But, I think people do vote much more emotionally and far less rationally than we'd all like to imagine.

If you feel you can undersatnd the person, relaate to them, you feel somethng genuine, imagined or not obviously, then yu are more likely to have trsust and vote.

I think what their wives are like, comes subtly into ths judgement of them as a person. Probably wrongly admittedly, but it doesn't make it less true.

I think this effect gets stronger and stroger each election as the policies become hardly distinguishable and certainly the ideology whivh once separeted them seems to have all but disappeared.

ou have to make a judgement on somehjing, so gut reaction often wins.

[Granny23]

NO (and it should be affect) I am in a bad mood this am........

[Charlieandlola]

No because the wives are not standing for election.
Would have loved to have voted for Dennis, but couldn't bring myself to vote Maggie, for example.

Liked Sarah Brown until My Husband My Hero> I mean come on, seriously< how utterly cringeworthy.

[SmileysPeepul]

I dithered over affect/effect, I have had it explained to me so many times but just cant get it.

[BelleDameSansMerci]

Nope.

[SmileysPeepul]

Obviously the 'whose wife would you want to be mates with?' and the 'who would you go on holiady with?' tests are flippant expressions, of something that i do think has a truth to it.

how you feel about the party leader will affect/effect (please God someone please finallly help me with that)how you will vote, even if in a very subtle way. And all sorts of things will affect/effect (it's embarrassingnow)this emotional reaction, from what they wear, to how they speak, who their frinds are (very teling one imo) to who they decide to marry.

I thnk to dismisss all this with a confident 'no I'm far too rationale for all that' is really deceiving yourself.

the wife effect(yes?) is on my mind due to sarah Brown on MN, and the impaoct that had on me, and then Sam Cam being launched as a Dave weapon yestreday. I thnk these things do have an affect/effect (I give up.)

[Granny23]

Tis easy - generally affect is the verb; effect is the noun.

e.g. Do the leaders wives affect your choice?

No, they do not have an effect on my choice.

So if you are putting an 'an' in front it is pprobably an 'effect'

[SmileysPeepul]

'that's not simple!!'

Although, no one ever told me about the 'an' thing before that mayve that will crack it??

Or maybe...this should be the test for sufficient inttelligence to be allowed to vote, and that would weed out the numpties who vote for the one with the nicest wife.

[TheFowlAndThePussycat]

I take your point smiley, I'm telling myself I won't vote lib dem cos I don't want to let the Tories in, but in fact I suspect that it's really because Nick Clegg said that idiotic thing about sleeping with loads of women. I just can't warm to him now.

I suppose I just don't really know anything about the wives really so it doesn't affect (that's a verb isn't it?) me in practice. But more to the point I think that's the way it should be, I don't want to know about these women unless they want to be elected to something in their own right. I think that's where Cherie Blair got it wrong, she forgot that she wasn't elected & used her unelected post to campaign on her own issues. This is not to say that her issues, or Sarah Brown's for that matter are not important, just that being married to the prime minister doesn't/shouldn't make you powerful in your own right.

[FabIsDoingPrettyWell]

I will be voting how I am the same as if they were single as married.

The wife shouldn't effect your vote. It should be about policies, not personalities..

[legalityfinality]

affect

no they don't at all

[legalityfinality]

but effect also a verb sometimes granny

to effect : make something happen, to bring to pass

[FabIsDoingPrettyWell]

Riven email him again.

[FabIsDoingPrettyWell]

No idea.

[Granny23]

Yes. Effect can be a verb as you point out but it is a fairly uncommon usage. Much more common is that something will affect you and thereby have an effect upon you.

[legalityfinality]

I agree. Effectively put.

[ABetaDad]

I really wish political parties would stop parading the wives of leaders. We did not see Dennis Thatcher being paraded before the cameras to say that Maragret was a great cook or that she left her tights on the radiator. Of course we knew Dennis was there and of course he gave great support to her behind the scenes.

I have nothing against any of the wives of the political leaders but it is the slavish adoption of American Presdential political campaigning techiques that gets my back up.

It would not influece my vote and I do not want to see or hear from any of the wives again. The outing for Sam Cameron yesterday just opened her up to criticism in a quite unecessary way and the Sarah Brown 'my hero' quote just grates. I do't ned to know what the wives think. I do want to know what their husbands think. I hope the Lib Dems do not feel the need to wheel out Nick Clegg's wife.

[sweetjane1]

Yes they do affect the way I vote - they're a big turn off. I don't like the "he's my hero" stuff from Sarah B and I can't stand seeing Sam Cam pretending she wears BHS or whatever all the time. Now let's get back to real politics - what did you think of DC's chocolate brown shirt? No seriously I'm going back to the issues.