Motorway Man holds the key to the outcome of this year's general election, and both main parties are targeting him. He lives on a modern housing estate in a former industrial town within easy reach of the M1 and M6 motorways, a place like Rugby, Nuneaton or Milton Keynes. These are considered marginal constituencies. Motorway Man probably voted Labour in the late 1990s and early 2000s but the Tories think that his values have changed and he is now moving towards the Conservative Party.
There was a short piece on Motorway Man at the end of yesterday's Today programme on Radio 4 (listen here for a few more days). There's also an FT article here.
Previous election campaigns have targeted Mondeo Man (someone who owned a Ford Mondeo and may have been a travelling salesman; this group is credited with having returned Labour to power in 1997) and Worcester Woman (a middle-class woman from Middle England; she is seen as someone likely to switch between parties depending on what they are offering). Mrs Thatcher is said to have won a lot of support from the Essex Man, a working-class voter with aspirations to own property and shares.
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