Well, the General Election still hasn’t been called, but The Observer has already published a pointless report on the voters in marginal seats who may (or may not) determine the result of the election.
And according to its headline, it’s one group of men who will have the important role. Only… it isn’t.
Look at the headline used in the piece:
“Motorway Man holds key to general election victory.”
We assumed this meant white van man, or any man who uses a motorway, being the key voters. And we couldn’t understand why women who use the motorway system weren’t so important.
We looked at the sub-head for clues:
“Key voters in marginal seats live near motorway networks and are young, childless and in negative equity, say pollsters.”
Again, we couldn’t quite see why it was only men living in these circumstances who were the important ones. Would women in the same situation vote completely differently?
But then we realised that “Motorway Man” is a meaningless term coined by some people trying to drum up publicity for their research. “Motorway Woman”? Not alliterative. “Motorway People”? Too boring. “Motorway Man”? Perfect! Like Neanderthal Man! Only, um, not.
We’re a bit cross with The Observer for repeating this stupid phrase, and for having it as their headline. It puts the focus on men, and implies that it is men who will determine the election result. Yet if you read the article, it’s clear that this is not the case.
Home Affairs Editor Jamie Doward’s article blames the credit rating company Experian for coining what he calls a “catch-all” name. But it doesn’t “catch all”. It omits half the population in its name.
The articles ties together research, carried out for Experian by YouGov, with a separate database of the population, Mosaic, run by an academic from King’s College London. The database identifies the type of person who is the key voter in the upcoming election; the Experian/YouGov research simply seems to try and assess what party that key person would vote for.
The KCL academic makes it clear that the key voters are:
“couples who live near motorway junctions”
Couples. That’s men AND women – not just men.
It looks like Experian might have coined the phrase “Motorway Man” as a handy headline for a press release promoting its poll.
What a shame that The Observer chose to repeat this erroneous phrase in its headline, rather than question its meaning.
