Cameron's "Female Touch" A Myth

The idea that Cameron has a "female touch" that Brown is lacking is a myth according to new polling evidence released today.

The Fawcett Society and Ipsos have today published polling results showing that women have a less favourable rating of David Cameron as a leader. This goes against the now commonly held myth that Cameron has a special touch with the female electorate but is in line with women's greater scepticism of politics and political leaders. At the same time, the female vote is moving away from Labour and women are showing record levels of disenchantment with the Government. These two factors combined indicate that women are still making up their minds about where to place their political allegiance and all parties will need to do considerably more work to underpin their reputation and party standing if they want to win women's votes.

• In the first few months of his time as leader (in 1997), Tony Blair's satisfaction ratings jumped up dramatically; in contrast Cameron's have dropped off in the same pattern as Howard, Duncan Smith and Hague before him (note 1).
• Just 9% of women say Cameron is more honest than most politicians, compared to 16% of men.
• 38% of women have yet to make up their mind about the new Conservative leader.

The polling also reveals that women's opinion of Brown is no worse than all leaders:

• Overall Brown scores lower than Cameron on the measure 'has got a lot of personality'.
• However, it is men, rather than women, who perceive Gordon Brown to be too inflexible (21% of men versus 12% of women).
• A significant proportion of women (31%) have yet to make up their mind about Brown.

In general, Blair is increasingly seen as 'out of touch with ordinary people' and 'too inflexible (note 2), while Campbell is seen as 'honest'.

Today's results on leader image are published alongside quarterly aggregate data on women and men's voting intentions and on the issues that women and men rank as important. This shows that:

• Women's support of Labour has dropped four points since the 2005 General Election and the Conservatives have seen an equivalent rise in women's support.
• The growth in Conservative support has come from 25-54 year olds. Potentially worrying for the party is the fact that support among older women voters (who will cast 1 in 5 votes at the next general election) have not changed their support significantly since the last General Election.
• The loss of Labour support appears to be coming evenly from all age groups.
• Women put the NHS at the top of their political agendas with 40% of women ranking it as one of the two most important issues facing Britain compared to just 26% of men.

Dr Katherine Rake, Director of the Fawcett Society said:

"Today's analysis knocks on the head the notion that women are more likely than men to be influenced by politicians' personal appearance and style. It shows that women take a considered, and rather sceptical, approach to politics. Women's levels of disenchantment with the Government are at an all time high, but this is not translating into a strong move towards Cameron and the Conservatives. Rather, women are currently assessing their options and now is the time that all political parties need to set out a bold vision that captures women's interest, and ultimately their votes."

Julia Clark from Ipsos said:

"Women are unhappy with Blair and where he has led the country with regard to Iraq, but there is no evidence to show that they are shifting their support to Cameron and the Conservative Party. Rather, women are simply less likely to indicate a preference for either party, choosing to remain undecided until the issues they care about are addressed by politicians. The key issue here is healthcare: neither party is sufficiently addressing the one issue that is essential to winning women's support."

Notes

Note 1

Net Satisfaction (1994-2006)

Base: c.1,000 British adults interviewed during 3rd week of the month

Note 2

Labour Leader Image

Political Monitor August / September

Q28 Here is a list of things both favourable and unfavourable that have been said about various politicians. I would like you to pick out all those statements that you feel fit Mr Blair / Tony Blair?

Q29 Here is a list of things both favourable and unfavourable that have been said about various politicians. I would like you to pick out all those statements that you feel fit the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Brown / Gordon Brown?

Q30 Here is a list of things both favourable and unfavourable that have been said about various politicians. I would like you to pick out all those statements that you feel fit Mr Cameron / David Cameron? Split sample Mr Cameron vs David Cameron

Q31 Here is a list of things both favourable and unfavourable that have been said about various politicians. I would like you to pick out all those statements that you feel fit Sir Menzies Campbell?

Further Notes

Q Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Mr Cameron is doing his job as leader of the Conservative Party?

Leader Satisfaction Ratings

Q The table below shows the changes in levels of support for each of the main three political parties between the general election in May 2005 and the most recent breakdown for April and June 2006.

Voting intentions ("certain to vote") by gender