Women voters: our report with Ipsos MORI published today, come and tell us what you think.

[KatieMumsnet]

Morning

Just wanted to let you know that our report into women voters is published today. Written by Sky correspondent Anushka Asthana with data from Ipsos MORI and lots of info. and views from Mumsnet users, the report gives an idea of what a range of women are thinking as next year's general election edges closer.

Key points from the report include

Six out of 10 women (58%) say they may change their mind between now and next May (53% of men)

48% of women (and 51% of men) think Labour should change its leader before the election, compared with 29% of women (and 25% of men) when it comes to the Conservatives

Results suggest that if Boris Johnson were to take charge of the Conservative party it could boost the party’s support similarly across the genders, (Tory vote up 7% among male voters and 6% among women) with the hypothetical potential to remove Labour’s current lead among female voters

Women are more likely to back Labour (39%) than the Conservatives (30%), but this gap has narrowed since last year’s report, from 14 points to nine
Older women are now more likely to back the Tories than Labour (In 2013, 36% of women over 55 said they would vote Labour and 33% Conservative, these figures are now 34% and 36% respectively.

Satisfaction levels for all party leaders are historically low, with David Cameron on -21, Ed Miliband on - 22, Nick Clegg on -37 and Nigel Farage on -16

Women are significantly less optimistic about the economy than men, with only four out of 10 (40%) expecting conditions to improve over the next year; over a quarter (27%) believe things will get worse (compared to 57% and 18% respectively for male voters).

A large majority of both women and men (68% and 67% respectively) believe the country would be better run if there were more women in parliament and 65% of women (and 60% of men) think Britain’s governance would be improved with more women at the cabinet table

You can see these and more here and the full report here

Thanks to everyone who took part in the discussions and let us know what you think.

Happy Sunday

Katie

Is this the thing recently where there were threads for a selected group of posters? I took part in that yet don't recognise some of the things in this report from the questions we answered.

The thing that stood out most to me when reading the threads I was on was that women want politicians who stand for something. It came through loud and clear that participants wanted them to have principles rather than wait for the latest soundbite and jump on what they think will make them popular as most of our current politicians do.

Christ, it's depressing to know that Boris could boost Tory support.

Those satisfaction ratings make Nigel Farage the leader with whom the electorate is least dissatisfied.

As a Labour member/activist, the high percentages of both men and women who think Labour should change their leader worries me. I think Ed Miliband is a good, honest, principled man - and there are few enough of those type around - but can see that the electorate doesn't necessarily want that; they just want the Boris-style charisma.

That is the problem Hassled, people want integrity and values but are so easily taken in by spin and soundbites. I was appalled at how the media hounded Gordon Brown in the run-up to the last election and suspect they are doing the same to Ed Milliband but a significant number of people are daft enough to fall for it

yes people are daft to fall for the beauty contest that politics is turning into but the Press are also to blame. they have stopped reporting the news and have to spin the news.

take tonight's headlines about the Tories abolishing what the press are calling The Death Tax.

Anyone skimming that headline would say that the Tories are planning to abolish Inheritance Tax. not so, they are merely planning to scarp the marginal rate of tax on some, but not all, inherited pensions.

It hardly warrants headline news. It is misleading. It comes straight from Conservative Central Office.

Journalists need to gain some integrity and start reporting facts instead of opinions.

UKIP Central Office has come up with a ‘deficit, what deficit’ tax give aways the Institute of Fiscal Studies will COST £19 billion a year; Osbourne taking some pensions out of tax, that will cost £150 million, a sector decimated under Labour – which is the more credible.

Ukip tell us ‘they want the balance of power’ in 2015, have they learned nothing from the Lib Dems in 2010 promise to cut Tuition Fees, as how will Ukip in a 2015 Coalition with Labour get those tax cuts through, when they say some will be financed by leaving the EU – yet Ukip cannot deliver an exit from the EU on their own, or in government with the Labour Party.

Clearly any fool of a party who will never FORM a government can seek ‘headlines’ offer huge tax cuts when don’t have to worry about a deficit or how to fund our BASICS i.e. education, defence, the NHS. Pathetic really.

Ukip's recent record on General Election promises', which goes to credibility.

"UKIP leader Nigel Farage has disowned the party's entire (2010) general election manifesto - which he helped launch - branding it "drivel”."

news.sky.com/story/1200525/nigel-farage-disowns-ukip-manifesto-as-drivel

scousadelic ……. In answer to your last post, Ed Miliband did not ‘forget’ to talk about the the £157 billion annual budget deficit/overspend his government left under Brown, the Labour leadership still has no clue how to address it OTHER THAN via higher taxation – which is why through electoral cowardice in 2010 trying to limit the voter damage, they as the government of the day, would not give us their ‘cut less, tax & spend more’ plans until AFTER the election.

It was up to the government with 13-years of the UK's books in front of them to issue THEIR plans, to THEIR problems, and other parties would have been forced to outline all their plans - but it did not happen then, but for the sake of democracy, has to happen in 2015.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2766413/Gordon-Brown-gave-Chuka-Umunna-hairdryer-treatment-blistering-phone-call-interview-criticising-former-PM-s-record.html
"Revealed: How Gordon Brown gave Chuka Umunna the 'hairdryer treatment' in blistering phone call after criticising former PM's record on economy."

• EXCLUSIVE: Source reveals extraordinary call by ex Prime Minister
• Mr Umunna blamed former PM for Labour's economic credibility problem
• He said Mr Brown 'gave impression we didn't understand debt and deficit'
• Former Labour leader confronted Mr Umunna in an angry call afterwards

Listen to Ed Balls with dodgy math scratching the surface of the expected £75 billion deficit in 2015, ‘we will not borrow more to address it’, but no mention on the more taxes on the population to fulfil their £75 bil deficit reduction pledge - via higher income tax, National Insurance another Private pension raid, derisory State pension rises, Housing Stamp Tax at 1% in 1997 etc etc etc.

I agree, Hassled. And, dare I say it, I think a lot of the prejudice against him is because he speaks with a bit of a lisp and isn't a manly man, rather than what he's actually saying. I don't agree with everything he says, of course, but I can see past the delivery, which a lot of people don't seem able to do.

Boris is exactly the same sort of frightening man hiding behind a buffoon persona as Nigel Farage. People are so easily fooled.

I agree it should not be a beauty contest. The Conservatives picked their leader based on the fact that he spoke yo them without notes and laid on a good buffet.

Cleg's popularity rise when he appeared on the TV. In the GE leaders debate. Obviously he had more sex appeal than Gordon Brown

But Ed seems to have no self awareness need his judgement is sadly lacking. No credible leader could have hatred to deliver such a crappy last conference before a GE speech. Even if he had read the notes and had in kidded everything if was still an embarrassingly painful load of nonsense devoid of any serious vision. I read somewhere that he doesn't read the British media and gets a lot of his ideas from American Poiltics. the constant repetition of TOGETHER may have gone down well in the States but over here it just sounded as though he was going to launch into the Pet Shop Boys Go West - and Newsnight did release a clip of it set to that tune

Gordon Brown spoke without notes during the Scottish referendum. He was able ago do so because he believes passionately in his case had a vision and had great knowledge of the subject. Ed has none of these things. He doesn't even properly understand party history as he stood and posed with a copy of The Sun. A lot if people don't like e way he put politics before family. When you vote Ed you actually get 2 Eds and many people do not trust or like Ed Balls. Also, Britain is now a tar and Ed does not look like a grown up figure war leader. All of which suggest that to some people he is simply not electable.

I hope Labour does not resort to choosing leaders like Blair again.

Boris is a joke with colourful personal life. Unfortunately to those who don't have an interest in politics and who only see Boris larking around on Have I Got News for new, they would probably vote for this comedian. But the Tories would lose more core support than they would gain newcomers if they chose Boris as a leader. The Tories need a more down to earth leader with a non privileged background,. David Davis has a huge wealth of expertise and has such a background. He was also the candidate that Cameron defeated with his no notes trick during the leadership election
He is also EU sceptic. The fact that he was one of the Tory. Whips that whipped the Maastricht Treaty through the house may put a lot of euro sceptics off him. I wouldn't vote for him because of that.

Isitmebut will tell you all Nigel's faults. Personally I think Nigel is a conviction politician whose primary objective is leaving the EU and I preferred UKIP when it sad a single issue party and before it decided to have a full domestic manifesto. It may be growing in popularity but it's key objective of leaving the EU is in danger of being obscured.

How much is beauty, how much record in power, and how much is being told the truth of what can be done in 2015, rather than 2010 lied to again?

Can anyone really say that 13-years of a Labour government, inheriting a 1997 economy light years better than the one they left the Conservatives in 1979, with a huge majority in parliament and hundreds of ££ billions to spend - did anything sustainably positive for the lower paid, youth unemployment and those needing social homes - as most of those people as STILL IN the Miliband shadow cabinet?

For 4-years Miliband has criticised and pretended he had the answer to 'the cost of living' crisis (you find in any recession, never mind the worst for 100-years), is his answer really a small rise in the Minimum Wage by 2020?

Shouldn't politics be about each party's SOLUTIONS to problems, not opposing the measures needed when we either need to spend what we earn as a country, or substantially raise taxes to pay for the 2010 services/benefits/fat government 2010 Shangri-La, people believe we had?

Parties don't win elections - governments lose them

What that is saying is that people are keener to throw out what they don't like rather than vote consciously for what they do like.

Every administration also eventually runs out of ideas and pisses off just about every sector of the electorate whose votes they need. So this administration has annoyed the teachers, public servants, civil servants, people who see house prices soaring out if their reach, people who had expected an increase in int Ernest rates on their savings, rail users.......... All sorts of groups large and small.

It's actually not about SOLUTIONS at all. It's about strategy and vision, Solutions are just small incremental steps in the delivery of an overall strategy. A series of disjointed solutions is just tinkering at the edges, like this latest tax credit on pension payments to beneficiaries.

I see no real vision or strategies. I just hear sound bites.

What are the satisfaction levels for the leader of the UK's current third largest party, the SNP? Or did you not ask?

Nigel Farage gets more airtime on here and everywhere else in the media, despite being a joke and an absolute fringe party, not a party currently in power in Scotland.

(I know, Scotland's not important, it was interesting for a bit while we were considering independence, back to usual English rightwing choices)

Scotland has just slipped off Cameron's radar.

Don't forget that since he secured the NO vote he's

Had the Labour conference

The Tories have started another war

They've lost another MP to UKIP

They are having a pretty bad conference

Polling data shows they will lose the next election

makes the Scottish referendum seem years ago instead of earlier this month

Why has this poll completely ignored the Greens - a party which already has an elected MP (unlike UKIP) and in some areas is polling ahead of the Libdems?

I agree Merguez, they rarely get any positive press yet their policies are great, my local MP is fantastic and Labour but because of the party as a whole I can't vote for her, I'll be voting Green because I like their policies.

None of these parties are tackling the real problems of the NHS, Housing, education, employment and the deficit - offering sound bites and PR spin, nothing they say is believable, it sounds sickening all the media friendly buzz words that get said as often as possible trying to brainwash us in to believing we are all in this together, and it's Labour's fault, benefit scroungers etc - just stop!

HeeHiles .... there was no easy solution to a £157 bil NATIONAL deficit in 2010 and all the other problems any government would face, so you are starting to sound like Ukip, cherry picking soundbites against the main parties - so against the Coalitions record over the past 4-years, what were The Greens costed solutions and cuts to everything you've mention in 2010, so we can compare?

sound like ukip? you're too funny! And I have enough trouble managing my own costs and invoices to worry about the Green parties but I like their policies, I think the Robin Hood Tax would help our economy and they want to protect our planet, I want to live in their green world and I'll leave the costings to the professionals.

As I explained elsewhere, while ideologically sounding a peach, The Robin Hood Tax of 1p(?) per transaction would be more than institutions e.g. pension funds, often obtain as a bid/offer dealing spread e.g. 1/32nd, 1/64th, and even tighter of 1 penny (or cent) - so whatever happens the banks making the prices on INVESTOR DEMAND will make dealing more expensive by ADDING ON 1 penny, the costs will be borne by us not the banks, and trying to allocate which transaction should be taxes amongst millions every day, will be unworkable.

No 'men or women in green tights' solution in that forest of complexity, I'm afraid. lol

Well Angela Merkel supports it and plenty of other clever people who know about this stuff - I bet it would work better than all this austerity nonsense!