"Worcester woman" is a political term used by polling companies in the United Kingdom. It profiles or describes a type of median voter, a white collar professional who worries about quality of life issues.
It has been perceived to represent someone who would previously have voted Conservative but would likely be swung to vote for Tony Blair's Labour Party by the New Labour rebranding. This electoral sector was particularly targeted in the 1997 and 2001 UK general elections.
Worcester woman is often used as a pejorative term to describe a woman with consumerist views and a shallow interest in politics, leading her to decide her vote based on issues raised during the election campaign, and therefore likely to vote for whichever political party has the most effective spin.
Famous quotes containing the word woman:
“They tell us that women can bring better things to pass by indirect influence. Try to persuade any man that he will have more weight, more influence, if he gives up his vote, allies himself with no party and relies on influence to achieve his ends! By all means let us use to the utmost whatever influence we have, but in all justice do not ask us to be content with this.”
—Mrs. William C. Gannett, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 5, ch. 8, by Ida Husted Harper (1922)