In the week that election fever really takes hold, we decided to carry out a snap survey of over 1300 readers to find out where you stand, what you’ve made of the campaign so far and what Grazia Woman is really looking for in a leader (hint! The size of your kitchen really doesn't matter!)...
It's your call. The most closely-fought, edge-of-our-seats election in a generation is less than ten days away and with the polls neck and neck, politicians are scrapping for every vote. And intriguingly, it's women like you who could hold the keys to Number 10.
And that’s because at this late stage it’s all about persuading the ‘undecideds’ - voters who haven’t made up their minds yet which way to jump, and could still be persuaded. And crucially, this group is disproportionately likely to be female and under 35. Grazia Woman has already flexed her political muscle by successfully campaigning to change equal pay law and now it’s your turn to use your influence again.
So much has happened in the last five years that the 2010 election already feels a lifetime away. We've seen bromance break out between David Cameron and Nick Clegg - remember that sunlit press conference in the Downing Street Rose Garden, back when the coalition was first formed? - only to end in conscious uncoupling. We've watched the Miliband brothers battle it out with each other for leadership of the Labour party, seen the dizzying rise of smaller parties and the fall from grace of some fairly big names. The Westminster snowglobe has been shaken hard and we don’t yet know where the flakes are going to settle, but we do know that your vote has never mattered more than it will on May 7.
So who is the Grazia Woman backing and what does she want? Well, the results are in - and politicians take note - we’ve used our findings to draw up our very own Graziafesto, a five-point plan for a better future. This is what you told us…
Sturgeon-mania
This time last year many barely knew who she was, but for Grazia Woman there’s a runaway winner in the political personality stakes: SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon.
Non-Scots have only recently got to know her via the televised election debates but she’s emerged from nowhere as the female politician you most admire (23 per cent, beating Theresa May and Harriet Harman – 18 and 13 per cent ). You chose her as the most relatable leader for modern women (28% picked her over 21% for David Cameron and just 13 per cent for Green Party leader Natalie Bennett). She’s also the one you woud most expect to be a good friend (25 per cent), and she tied at 20 per cent with David Cameron and Ed Miliband on which leader would do most for women even though her party isn’t even standing outside Scotland. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, Nigel Farage – who once suggested City women might be ‘worth less’ in pay terms than their male colleagues, if they've take time off to have children – trails in last on this one, with four per cent).
In other words, Sturgeonmania is now definitely A Thing just as Cleggmania was in 2010, backed up by Google Trends which reveals her name went from nowhere much in January to a peak of 100,000 searches on the day of the last debate.
It’s not all bad news for the other leaders though. Cameron emerges as the most dependable: he's the leader judged most likely to keep his promises, best marriage material (26 per cent) and the one 34% of you would call in a crisis. Nearly one in five thought he was ‘competent and strong’.
Nick Clegg, however, emerged as the most fanciable leader, with one in four prepared to consider flirting with him on Tinder. The signs are the Liberal Democrat leader’s still paying for his U-turn on tuition fees, however; he was deemed least likely to keep his promises, with only six per cent expecting him to do so. Ed Miliband’s strongest point seems to be his values, with one in five judging him ‘a moral person’.
But Grazia Woman isn’t exactly bowled over by any of the three main party leaders: given a list of negative and positive descriptions to choose from you plumped for the negative ones, with over a quarter of you considering Cameron ‘out of touch’ while ‘dull and boring’ came top for both Clegg and Miliband.
Perhaps surprisingly, the politician you reckon would be most fun at a dinner party was UKIP’s Nigel Farage, romping home with 42% of the vote. But did you want a heart-to-heart with him about leaving the EU – or did you just see him as most likely to knock back the wine, tell some risqué stories and let it all hang out?
The Issues that Matter
Childcare and violence against women, both issues that politicians traditionally assume will matter to female voters, came pretty low on the list when Grazia Woman was asked to rank her priorities for this election. Only two per cent rated these as their top concerns. It turns out you’re more interested in the big issues affecting the whole country’s future, with the NHS coming top followed by the cost of living and immigration - in line with what national polls show too. Further proof maybe that the mythical ‘women’s vote’ isn’t so different from men’s – and that at a general election, you’re thinking way beyond your own daily lives.
But when it comes to the way politics affect your own aspirations, things take an interesting turn. The big lesson is that Bridget Jones is well and truly dead. What keeps you awake at night isn't the fear of never finding the right man to marry (for all the political emphasis on promoting marriage, only 6 per cent of you were most worried about failing to tick this box) or have a baby (only cited by one in ten). The milestones modern women are MOST worried about are achieving that elusive holy-grail, finding the perfect work-life balance (27 per cent of you) - and getting on the property ladder (22 per cent).
There is everything to play for to get Grazia Woman’s vote (24 per cent of you are still undecided compared to Labour 24 %, Conservative 20 % and as many of you voting Green (5%) as you will Lib Dem) - but looking at the issues which matter to you, anyone anyone wanting to win you over should think very hard about how to help a new generation of dual income couples juggle family life and work between them. But as almost one in four of you is still pessimistic about your chances of ever owning your own place, chances are you’ll also be looking closely at help for first time buyers.
Style V Substance
So this shouldn't even need saying, but judging by the campaign so far it apparently does: Grazia Woman isn’t half so interested in politicians' kitchens, hairstyles, or winsome family anecdotes as some seem to think.
Samantha Cameron was judged the most relatable of the leaders’ spouses, with 48% picking her compared to 27% for the less familiar Justine Miliband and 25% choosing Miriam Gonzalez Durantez. But crucially, waxing lyrical about your marriage seems unlikely to cut much ice with the 54% of readers saying they don't think it actually matters if a politician has a family life or not. (That's borne out by your enthusiasm for Nicola Sturgeon, who doesn't have kids and generally gives little away about her domestic life; it's also potentially good news for potential Tory leadership contender Theresa May, who's far more comfortable discussing the big issues than the personal stuff).
Clothes do make an impression, with 40% saying it was the first thing they noticed about a politician's appearance and 29% clocking the hair – a whole lot more than the 4% who registered their kitchens. But only a tiny one per cent felt it was important for politicians to look good and a cheering 21% agreed most strongly with the statement that 'I don't care what female politicians look like'. The clear message is to worry less about the style and get stuck into the substance.
And that substance matters because so many of you still aren’t sure how you will vote. Almost nine in ten of those who responded to our survey said they did plan to turn out at the next election but while Labour was narrowly ahead of the Tories among Grazia readers, nearly one in four had not yet made up their minds who to back. That reflects national polls showing people are struggling more than in previous elections with their choices - a recent Ipsos-MORI poll found that 38% still didn’t know who to back on polling day.
Women at the top
Grazia Woman may not be terribly impressed by politicians - 37 per cent regard them as 'untrustworthy', 19% went for ‘arrogant’ and 13% for ‘egomaniacs’ - but you certainly haven't given up on politics. Nearly two thirds still believe politicians have the power to change your life.
What you're looking for is elected representatives who tell it to you straight, and who stick to their values: 35 per cent wanted politicians to admit when they've made mistakes and 44 per cent thought they needed to have a strong moral code. Crucially, almost a third of you felt the country would be a better place with more women in politics generally, while 38 per cent said women politicians were more harshly judged than men. It’s not so much that you think female MPs are all saints – only five per cent thought women were more trustworthy than men in politics – but it’s clear you like the idea of politics reflecting normal life.
So what sort of women might you like to see in public life? While Nicola Sturgeon outscored all the main leaders as the most relateable party leader for the modern woman (28 per cent), when we asked you to pick your favourite fantasy politicians from a list of celebrities, the two who tied for top place with 20% of the vote each were both strong, campaigning women with feminist instincts: Emma Watson and Helen Mirren.
Watson's HeForShe campaign for the United Nations, emphasising how men can help push for gender equality, and Mirren's refusal to conform to expectations of older women are both good examples of women prepared to break the conventional rules. Close behind them came millionaire author JK Rowling, a good friend of Gordon and Sarah Brown who has made significant donations to Labour and to the ‘Better Together’ campaign against Scottish independence.
Five things politicians should do if they want your vote
1. Save the NHS
You said…. the NHS was your biggest priority at this election
They say…The LibDems and Tories both promise an extra £8 billion a year by 2020 for the NHS if they win; Labour promises thousands more nurses and GPs with curbs on selling off services to private firms. The SNP promises an extra £24 billion overall and, along with the Greens, an end to privatisation. UKIP promises an extra £12 billion for the NHS.
2. Give us equality at work
You said…the cost of living is your second biggest worry. The glass ceiling that stops women getting pay-rises and promotions is one way of tackling it.
They say…all the parties except UKIP promise to enforce equal pay law – now including the change Grazia campaigned for, which forces big firms to publish data on men’s and women’s salaries - and help working parents by providing more free childcare for pre-schoolers. The Tories would also ‘push business’ to reduce the pay gap further; the Greens want anonymised CVs so women and black candidates couldn’t be systematically weeded out before job interviews; and the LibDems say they’d help a million more women into work by 2020. Labour would toughen the law on pregnancy discrimination. UKIP say they’d protect existing employment rights despite quitting the EU (where many of these rights originated).
3. Have more women in public life
You said…you’re interested in powerful women and you’d like to see more female leadership.
They say…the Tories want more female MPs, board members and public appointments but don’t specify how this should be achieved. The Greens would require 40% of public company and public sector boards to be female. Nick Clegg has said he’d personally consider all-women shortlists, but it’s not a LibDem manifesto promise. Labour promises to continue selecting more female MPs via all-women shortlists. The SNP would push for 50/50 representation on public and private boards. UKIP has voted in the European parliament against quotas for women on the board.
4.Help us onto the property ladder
You said…many of you fear you’ll never be home-owners.
They say…. Tories would let housing association tenants buy their own homes, continue cheap Help to Buy loans, and build 200,000 new houses a year. The Greens would provide half a million social rented homes, cap rents, introduce longer tenancies and license landlords. Labour would build 200,000 houses a year by 2020, let councils give first-time buyers priority on new houses – and make more secure three-year tenancies the norm for renters. The LibDems would build up to 300,000 new homes a year, continue cheap Help to Buy loans, and introduce ‘help to rent’ loans for deposits. The SNP would support a nationwide target of 100,000 homes and back Help to Buy. UKIP would aim for a million new homes (although not on previously undeveloped countryside) and ban foreign nationals from Help to Buy.
5.Do what you promise
You say…You don’t think politicians are trustworthy or honest; many of you aren’t sure who to believe any more.
They say…put it this way: we’ll be judging them on how far they keep the manifesto promises made this May.
Want to know more?
We can only scratch the surface here. So if you want to know more, or indeed how all the parties plan to pay for these promises - then use these links to their full manifestos.
Conservative manifesto https://www.conservatives.com/manifesto
Green manifesto https://www.greenparty.org.uk/we-stand-for/2015-manifesto.html
Labour manifesto www.labour.org.uk/manifesto
Liberal Democrat manifesto http://www.libdems.org.uk/manifesto
SNP manifesto http://votesnp.com/docs/manifesto.pdf
UKIP manifesto http://www.ukip.org/ukip_manifesto_summary