Laura Arowolo has voted for the Labour Party in all of her life’s elections. This might all change, though, if the former party member is still unsure about who to support in the next general election.
The 32-year-old is among the millions of women who are reportedly undecided about which party to choose in the general election this year. A quarter of voters are still unsure, according to research by the Women’s Budget Group and YouGov. This percentage is significantly higher than the 11% of males who are unsure about their intention to vote.
Ms. Arowolo tells The Independent, “I’m just trying to figure it out because I don’t want my vote to be a wasted vote.” “I’ve been examining the Democratic Party. They might not be the best candidates, in my opinion. Simply said, I’ve been considering my alternatives.
DJ Ms. Arowolo claims that she no longer feels “in good conscience” about supporting Labour, and she adds that many of her friends share her unease.
She continues, “Everyone’s feeling a little bit homeless politically.” People on opposite ends of the spectrum exist; some are actively looking for alternate possibilities, while others feel apathetic and don’t intend to vote. They say something like, “I’m going to vote green because it’s the best option available.”
After surveying 2,000 persons, researchers found that women who are responsible for taking care of others are more than twice as likely as the typical voter to list childcare or social care as one of their top three priorities.
According to the research, Jeremy Hunt’s announcement last year that qualifying working parents of two-year-old children will be able to receive up to fifteen hours of free childcare per week starting on April 1 may have been motivated in large part by this promise. However, the scheme’s implementation has been disorganised, leaving parents worried that they won’t be able to take advantage of it and many nurseries unable to fill positions for the additional workers needed to offer the care.
According to a different expert, women are more likely than males to be swayed by health policies since they use the NHS more frequently and are more likely to work for the government. Given their inability to follow through on the majority of its 2019 promises to strengthen the NHS, the Conservatives have already received warnings that this could be their “achilles heel” in the upcoming election.
Over half of eligible voters are women, according to Dr. Zubaida Haque of the Women’s Budget Group. “Parties should take note of the fact that 25% of women are still unsure about how they will vote.”
She went on to say that if political parties pay attention to and address the policy objectives and concerns of the large number of undecided women, they might be able to influence them.
Parties must take note of the fact that 25% of women are presently unsure about how to vote.
Dr. Zubaida Haque, the Budget Group for Women
“Our polling indicates that women’s votes are in no way guaranteed, and should not be taken for granted by any political party, even though the data shows the continuation of a generational trend of women voters moving away from Conservatives and towards Labour.”
According to the most recent poll, Labour led among women by a larger margin than among males (14 points versus 11 points). It was discovered that while women were somewhat less likely than men to indicate they would vote Conservative, they were just as likely to say they would vote Labour. Approximately 17% of women expressed their intention to support the Conservative Party, whilst 20% of males did the same.
An expert in polls, Professor Sir John Curtice, clarified that when it comes to politics, women are invariably more unsure than males.
Prof. Curtice told The Independent, “It is obviously true to say women will have a significant say in the election given that women constitute 52 percent of the electorate.”
Chris Hopkins, the director of political research at Savanta, a reputable polling research company, is sceptical about the significance of female voters who are still undecided in the upcoming general election, which Rishi Sunak has stated will most likely take place in the second part of the year.
Furthermore, he claimed that the idea that women “vote as a bloc” is false. “To think that women will vote in a homogeneous manner is not accurate, as women make up 52% of the population,” he stated.
He went on to say that he anticipated a “quite drastic” decline in the percentage of undecided voters throughout the election campaign.
Specialist in gender, political behaviour, and voting, Dr. Rosalind Shorrocks contended that women are “almost always” more likely to be undecided about which party to support, but that this has little bearing on the possibility that they will cast a ballot.
The Manchester University-based scholar continued by saying that men are more inclined to prioritise immigration or the economy, while women are continuously more likely to claim that topics like healthcare are important.
According to Dr. Shorrocks, this is because women are more likely than men to use health services, to care for children or the elderly, and to work for the health service.
Women are currently “financially worse off, concerned about their safety, and too often stuck on seemingly endless NHS waiting lists,” according to Labour’s shadow secretary for women and equalities Anneliese Dodds, who called the situation “an abject failure from start to finish.”
“It shouldn’t take opinion polls to make male politicians realise what women in parliament have been telling them – that we don’t see our concerns being sufficiently addressed and acted on,” stated Christine Jardine, the Liberal Democrat’s spokesman on women and equality.
The Conservative Party declined to comment on the article, claiming that they don’t answer inquiries concerning surveys.
