The Essential poll, conducted March 24-28 from a sample of 1,100 people, revealed a significant gender divide in Scott Morrison favour. Morrison’s approval among men has remained stable at 65 percent since February, while his disapproval has risen just two points to 30 percent, for a net approval of +35.
Morrison’s approval rating among women has dropped 16 points since February, to 49 percent, with 10 points of that decrease occurring between mid-March and late-March polls. Morrison’s disapproval of women had risen 12 points to 40% since February, while his net approval had dropped 28 points to +9.
International polling on sexism and political correctness
CNN analyst Harry Enten mentioned an American National Election Studies survey before the 2020 US elections in a mid-March piece. This was a large-scale academic survey with over 8,000 participants and a significant number of questions.
Respondents were asked to choose whether they thought individuals needed to adjust their speech to reflect the times, or whether they thought the movement — frequently derisively referred to as “political correctness” — had gone too far and people were too easily offended in one question.
People are too easily offended, according to 53-46 percent of respondents. Joe Biden topped Donald Trump by a 53-42 margin in this poll, thus the seven-point edge in favour of too much political correctness (PC) demonstrates that it is a big concern for Republicans. Because Biden received 4.5 percent of the national popular vote, not 11 percent, it’s likely that opposition to PC is stronger than this poll suggests.
Elections in the United States including sex-compromised candidates
In Australia, candidates who cause their party embarrassment are frequently disendorsed by their party before to the election. It’s unlikely that a major party candidate who has been accused of making sexist remarks will be permitted to run as an endorsed candidate. However, sometimes scandals strike too late to prevent candidates from being removed from the voting box.
In the United States, major party candidates are chosen in primaries, which take place months before the general election. A candidate who wins a primary cannot be forced to resign by his or her party. As a result, there are considerably more incidents of sexually compromised major party candidates running for general elections in the United States.
In presidential election years, Congressional elections are held in early November, in conjunction with the presidential election. With one exception, the 2012 Senate election in Missouri was the last time a sexually compromised candidate outperformed the presidential ticket.
In August 2012, Republican Todd Akin made comments insinuating that women would not become pregnant as a result of a “legitimate rape.” Even though Republican Mitt Romney won Missouri by more than nine points in the presidential election, incumbent Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill crushed him by nearly 16 points.
The only sexually contaminated candidate who has failed since that election is Republican Roy Moore, who lost the Alabama Senate byelection in December 2017. Moore was accused of sexually assaulting minors under the legal age of consent (the youngest alleged victim was 14).