Average age you ‘become a Tory’ rises to 63, analysis shows
In simple terms, the age when the probability rate switches from a Labour supporter and a Tory is now 63.
YouGov analysis of the general election result from last month establishes that the median age of Tory supporters is now 24 years older than when the previous national poll was conducted.
In the 2019 general election the number was at 39 as the Conservatives under Boris Johnson triumphed in a landslide fashion from 47 in 2017.
It was as low as 34 in the 2015 general election; youngster were charmed by Lord Cameron.
However, lack of brevet under Rishi Sunak leadership saw the process leading to an exodus making the tipping point hit 63.
Mel Stride, one of the Tory leadership contenders and the shadow work and pensions secretary, said that the intersectionality was among the ‘basic and challenging questions’ that his party has to solve.
“What is going on at the moment is that we, as a party, have got to regroup and mobilise, and we have got to have a voice that is heard by the British public,” he said in an interview with Times Radio.
“And we’re going to do that through unity, and we’re going to do that through a lot of listening and a lot of hard work and working out the answer to a lot of fundamental and difficult questions. ”
“Such as the fact that the average of Conservative voter is 63 years old They completely disregard that. ”
Until the previous leadership elections earlier this year 2022, the average age of a card-carrying Tory member base was 57, which means the party is older than any of its rivals.
Official statistics show that Labour had a higher vote share than the Tories in all but the oldest age group, while Mr Sunak attracted fewer than 8% of the under-30s.
This page also shows that 15 per cent of women and 14 per cent of men between 25 and 49 years are voting Tory, while the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s party is dominating the 50 to 64 years age group.
Labour is popular amongst people in middle age; the median age of a Labour voter is 46 whereas for a Liberal Democrat voter it is 48, for a Reform UK voter it is 56 and a Green Party voter it is 39.
As well as dumping support for Labour among men 50-64, the Tories also held a tiny lead over Reform among this group, 23 to 22.
‘Magical ideological square’
Mr Stride said that it will take time for the Tories to rebuild the loss of faith in the party that was evident in the voting booth last month.
“It is not something that you can solve by leaping onto some magical ideological square,” he said.
“It is something that you fix through intensive and rigorous efforts in a long-term basis, and I do think that I get it and that I am the person to do that. ”
Mr Stride is the man who describes himself as a “dark horse” in early fight for the leadership of the Tories.
He is competing with Dame Priti Patel, James Cleverly, Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat in a contest that will continue until November 2 when the winner will be declared.
Another 121 Tory MPs will be voting more than once to narrow the options down to four for the party conference in October.
Four then are expected to go and speak to the party members to sell themselves, while successive MP votes yield two contenders who will undergo a vote of the members.