Dubbed a cerebral sex symbol when he entered politics, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff now faces a wall in his appeal to women. They don't much like him.
The issue is hugely significant for his party, which historically has enjoyed high levels of women's support. Ignatieff predecessors such as Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chrétien held 20-point leads in the polls with women over their Conservative opponents.
But Monday's Strategic Counsel poll shows women age 35 and over – and particularly women age 50 and over – have rejected the Liberals in droves in the past six months.
As for the issue of leadership, a summertime poll indicated women had the same lack of interest in Mr. Ignatieff as they do in Prime Minister Stephen Harper, even though women are inclined to vote left of centre and Mr. Harper has been labelled the most right-of-centre national party leader in modern Canadian history.
Only 30 per cent of women favoured each leader and a plurality liked neither.
I don't like Iggy. Mainly for his support of pre-emptive war and 'torture lite'. But, like many of the women interviewed in that piece, I find him stiff, condescending, and inauthentic. Not to mention opportunistic.
I had to laugh when I saw which demographic dislikes him most -- mine!
So, step up to the mic, er, comments section. You don't have to tell your age if you don't want to, but DJ! wants to know -- who likes Iggy? Anybody here?
16 comments:
I would much rather have Ignatieff for PM than Harper, but that's just me. Do, I like him, perhaps not a much as I did PET.
58 and female
mid-30s. From Ontario. Former Liberal. Iggy was never a contender in my book. Dating back to his pro-war stance. Seems to be the rest of the country is just now getting to know him and hate him as much as I do. I think I'll vote Green.
Hiya, Katie, welcome.
Anonymous: Yes, Steve is loathesome. And almost anybody would be preferable -- except his horrible, creepy cabinet ministers, of course.
But think about this. If Iggy had been PM in 2003, would Canada be in Iraq now? I'm thinking yes.
age 72
I Like him For his intellect... he express himself very well . So far he said nothing what upsets me... he won't make me warm and Fuzzy but I do trust him .
In the 9//11 times lots of people thought the same way namely USA has a duty To Crash the terrorist groups ... until later they found out the reality of all this. And he/ Iggy/ adjusted his views just like most of us...
I never liked him. Kept picking up his books in the library or bookstore, flipping through 'em, then re-shelving them as boring. His pro-war stance has taken him from ho-hum to loathsome in my eyes. Since he's Harpo Lite politically, and more willing to band together with him than work for Canadians, I have no use for him as a potential PM, either. The Libs need to get their act together and elect a party leader, not parachute one in from abroad.
Meanwhile, Jack Layton is still my man, even if no one's giving him a snowball's chance to be PM. At least he's standing up and winning concessions from Harpo for people who need a break...and yes, for me, that counts.
Female 58.
Nooooooooooooooo. Not me!
But he is better than Harper, although not on the war/torture front. I also dislike how he buckled under pressure during Israel's invasion on Lebanon when he recanted on the war crime accusation.
From an intellectual point of view, he can talk a good talk when there's nothing at stake but so can a lot of people. That doesn't get you elected and he has to do a little better than not having the last name Harper. It's like all he's doing is filling administrative duties.
I don't know where the sex symbol stuff came from, somebody needs to get laid. I'll tell ya, if he ate crackers in my bed, de'd be so gone, so fast...
Can't say I like him much either. Although will probably vote liberal in the next election - my riding went to rookie Conservative MP over the incumbent Liberal by 17 votes last go round, and I think he'll be running again.
32 yrs
Fern,
If Steve had been PM in 2003, would we be in Iraq? I'm thinking yes.
I'm 35, and I usually vote NDP. I voted Liberal last time and my riding was won by a lib by only 68 votes, so I'll probably vote liberal again, though with all the federal money flowing into this riding, I suspect they'll lose.
I cannot STAND Iggy. Gah. The man gives me the screaming heebie jeebies. Harper is made of evil, of course, but Iggy is just Harper lite. Same "great" taste, 1/3 less evil. Sign me up for some Bob Rae. I liked Dion a lot, actually, but he was too nice and got chewed up. Sad, isn't it?
And Jack Layton? Oh how pathetic he is. "Why is the Prime Minister taxing hockey?" (today's question period) It was hilariously sad.
We are so screwed is all I can say -- and not in the fun way.
Late 40s
The Libs made a huge mistake ensuring that Stefane would be turfed. They made a bigger mistake putting big biz boy and warmonger Iggy at the helm. They've totally fucked us over and,I think, are enjoying it, being fans of the corporatists to begin with.
Uh, so I have no use for Iggy whatsoever. I have disliked him since Day One of his reappearance in Canada.
Another late 40s female reporting (I couldn't miss this dog whistle)...
Fern, you know my love for Iggy has no bounds;-)
Regina Mom, I have disliked The Count well before he reappeared in Canada. The guy is an over-rated, pompous, academic hack. His constant fawning to the most influential and powerful has been going on since his stint in London. He prides himself in being a master at playing "devil's advocate" while meandering on about how above the fray he and his fellow intellectuals are. The like of him, Dershowitz and Cotler have managed to degrade the whole human rights movement and reduce it to a propaganda industry that props wars, occupations and subjugation of countless people across the globe.
Harper is shit, no doubt. Both suffer delusions of grandeur and are narcissists. But Harper is his own worst enemy -- Mr. "I shake my young child's hand, pose with kittens and perform Beatles' sap songs" can't disguise his contempt for humanity. He's a creep who rules by fear.
But Iggy is far more deceptive. His world view might be slightly more sophisticated than Haper's on some domestic social issues but just as hard right the CONservatives when it comes to law and order, economic and foreign affairs issues. Yet he likes to present himself like an enigma. He's as slippery and slimy as an eel. At least you can see a rabid wolverine approaching you. Just sayin...
53. I wanted to like him....Really, I did. But the chest thumping/sabre rattling in June that saw two middle-aged men decide, behind closed doors, to screw the unemployed so they could spend the summer travelling the country did it for me. I don't trust him any further than I could throw him!
"some domestic social issues"
Okay, I'll bite. Which ones? :)
Hey Luna, I would hazard to guess that he's not anti-choice or anti-arts funding for example. He's old school conservative that way. However, he is also a political opportunist who will never raise his voice against Harper's social conservative tendencies unless it's politically expedient.
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