It may rarely receive much attention in general political discussion but gender and politics has long been a matter of debate among political scientists.

The arrival of Julia Gillard as Australia's first female prime minister made gender more central to the political debate, especially given Ms Gillard on several occasions specifically attacked Mr Abbott on gender issues.

That opinion polls tended to show Mr Abbott polling less well among female voters was another factor in bringing gender into the general political debate.

Labor regularly highlighted Mr Abbott's polling with female voters and the Liberal Party's decision to feature Mr Abbott more often with his family and with his female colleagues and candidates suggested Liberal Party polling revealed something similar.

Yet there are two dimensions to issues of gender and voting patterns. A gap in voting by gender can be caused by shifts in female voting patterns, but equally can be due to shifts in male voting patterns.

On July 16, after the change of Labor leadership, the Australian featured a special analysis of Newspoll looking at the shift in gender voting with the change in leadership.

The article pointed to Labor's support among women having lifted from 34 per cent to 38 per cent with the change of leadership. The article's headline was all about Rudd being more popular among women than Gillard, the story re-visiting the misogyny and gender debate.

What I thought more revealing in the Australian's table was the shift in the male vote after the change of leadership. Labor's vote among men rose 7 per cent from 28 per cent to 35 per cent.

Before the change, a Fairfax Nielsen poll published on June 16 had highlighted a slump in Labor support among male voters; Labor slipping from its traditional position of polling more strongly among men than women had been evident earlier.

For all the talk of Mr Abbott's problem with female voters, not nearly as much attention was paid to a clearly evident problem that Ms Gillard had with male voters, the other dimension to a gender gap in voting.

Labor had a bloke problem.

And a bloke problem is something of a worry for the Labor Party. While the gap in gender voting has declined over the past four decades, it is still unusual for Labor to poll better than the Coalition among female voters but Labor normally polls better among male voters.

After the switch in leadership from Julia Gillard to Kevin Rudd, Labor achieved one of the biggest poll boosts in Australian polling history, a seven-point jump according to some polls.

Such a dramatic shift was worth investigating with Vote Compass and for the first week of the tool's operation, we included a 'question of the day' on voter attitudes to the change in Labor leadership.

To try to measure sentiment properly, the question was asked three different ways, though each respondent was asked only one of the questions. In a sample of about 300,000 respondents who gave their demographic details, one third received each question.

The results reveal there was a vast gender difference in respondent attitudes to the change in leadership, but it was the shift in attitude among male voters that was more important to Labor's poll recovery than the reaction of female voters.

The first question asked was:

Regardless of which party you intend to vote for on election day, do you prefer Kevin Rudd or Julia Gillard as leader of the Labor Party?

As shown in the graph below, the strongest support for Kevin Rudd was among intended Labor voters, who 63 per cent to 31 per cent stated they preferred Mr Rudd. The approval number would have been boosted by the number of voters switching to Labor because of the change, a consequence of the question being asked after the event.

Among 'Other' voters, preference for Kevin Rudd was 47 per cent to 26 per cent; among undecided voters 42 per cent to 36 per cent; but Green supporters backed Gillard 51 per cent to 35 per cent.

Coalition voters were evenly split, perhaps reflecting some Coalition supporters thinking Gillard was the better option for ensuring a Coalition victory.

Vote Compass analysis showing whether people prefer Kevin Rudd or Julia Gillard, according to voting intention, August 15, 2013 ( ABC News )

Looking at respondents' self-selected left-right ideology, an even more interesting pattern emerges. The group giving greatest support to Mr Rudd were respondents who considered themselves ideologically in the centre. Australian elections are always won in the centre, so such a finding suggests bad polling could in part be sheeted home to Ms Gillard's lack of appeal to this group compared to Mr Rudd.

Respondents of both left and right persuasion were more evenly split, probably for a variety of reasons. The graph below shows the full results.

Vote Compass analysis showing whether people prefer Kevin Rudd or Julia Gillard, according to ideology, August 15, 2013. ( ABC News )

Unsurprisingly, support for the change was strongest in Mr Rudd's home state of Queensland, followed by New South Wales and Tasmania, the three states where Labor's polling had been weakest. The only jurisdiction where voters supported Ms Gillard was the ACT.

Vote Compass analysis showing whether people prefer Kevin Rudd or Julia Gillard, according to state, August 15, 2013. ( ABC News )

As shown below, the gender difference on this question was stark. Men preferred Mr Rudd 56 per cent to 27 per cent, while women backed Ms Gillard 44 per cent to 36 per cent. This finding backs my suggestion that it was Julia Gillard's problem with male voters that was the gender issue driving the change of Labor leadership.

Vote Compass analysis showing whether people prefer Kevin Rudd or Julia Gillard, according to gender, August 15, 2013. ( ABC News )

The second question asked voters to look backwards and state what they would have done at an election were Julia Gillard still Prime Minister. Would they be more or less likely to support Labor?

If Julia Gillard were still Prime Minister would you be more or less likely to vote for the Labor Party?

The response based on intended party vote is a bit confused, probably because the group that really mattered, those who switched back to Labor with Rudd becoming leader, were hidden by the rest of the Labor voters who still intended to vote Labor.

The analysis based on self-assigned ideology shown in the graph below displays the overall picture more clearly.

Vote Compass analysis showing whether people would be more likely to vote Labor led by Julia Gillard, according to ideology, August 15, 2013 ( ABC News )

The response of Right and Centre-Right voters can be ignored, as most would not have voted Labor anyway. Left-aligned voters stated they were slightly more likely to vote Labor with Gillard as leader than Rudd.

But among Centre voters the gap was vast, 47 per cent less likely with Gillard compared to only 15 per cent more likely. And as I said, Australian elections are won in the centre.

As you would expect, the gender gap on this question was stark. Among male voters, 50 per cent stated they were less likely to vote Labor as opposed to 12 per cent more likely. Among female voters, 31 per cent were less likely to vote Labor, 26 per cent more likely. All the upside for Labor's vote on a change of leadership was among male voters, with little likely change in female support because of the switch.

Vote Compass analysis showing whether people would be more likely to vote Labor led by Julia Gillard, according to gender, August 15, 2013 ( ABC News )

The final question asked more specifically whether Labor had made the right decision. It didn't ask about intended change of vote, just simply whether the decision was 'right' by whatever criteria the respondent chose to use:

In your opinion, did the Labor Party make the right decision in changing leaders from Julia Gillard to Kevin Rudd?

Among Labor intended voters the response was overwhelming, 74 per cent saying yes and only 16 per cent saying no. Was this Labor voters falling in behind the new leader? Perhaps.

Green supporters were evenly split on the question, supporters of 'Others' were in favour 58 per cent to 29 per cent, and Undecided voters were in favour 44 per cent to 33 per cent.

Only Coalition supporters said the change was not the right thing to do. Again, some Coalition intended voters may have been thinking the right thing for their party was for Julia Gillard to remain as Labor leader.

Vote Compass analysis showing whether people think Labor made the right decision replacing Gillard with Rudd, according to voting intention, August 15, 2013. ( ABC News )

Below is the breakdown by ideology, and every group except Right voters considered the change was the correct decision by Labor. By far the strongest support was among Centre and Centre-Left respondents, the sort of groups Labor needed to retain support from to avoid a landslide defeat, and to even hope for possible victory.

Vote Compass analysis showing whether people think Labor made the right decision replacing Gillard with Rudd, according to ideology, August 15, 2013. ( ABC News )

Again there were stark differences along gender lines. Male voters thought the change was the right decision 61 per cent to 27 per cent, while female voters split in favour 44 per cent to 40 per cent.

Vote Compass analysis showing whether people think Labor made the right decision replacing Gillard with Rudd, according to gender, August 15, 2013. ( ABC News )

In summary it is clear that in changing leader, Labor received overall support among intended Labor voters, received greatest backing for the change from among Centre voters, and received overwhelming backing from male voters - with little evidence of a major backlash among female voters.

As Julia Gillard said in her farewell press conference, gender didn't explain everything about her troubled Prime Ministership, it didn't explain nothing, but it explained something.

Books have already appeared on the role of gender in Julia Gillard's political demise, and many a thesis will yet be written.

Yet what was seen in the polls beforehand, and what is clearly shown in the Vote Compass data, is that it is the reaction among male voters to Julia Gillard's demise that has played an important part in Labor's poll recovery.

The misogyny debate had focused political attention on Tony Abbott's perceived problems with female voters while not nearly as much attention was paid to Labor's and Julia Gillard's growing problem with male voters.

Labor's base electoral percentage vote is in the mid to high 30s. Under Julia Gillard, Labor was polling below this base level. In the circumstances, a change of leadership was always on the cards when a reticent Labor Caucus finally faced up to looming political oblivion.

Whether Labor's problems were caused by sexism in the electorate, sexism by Ms Gillard's opponents, sexism in the media, or missteps by Ms Gillard herself, clearly Labor couldn't allow the impasse on the leadership to persist.

Labor's bounce in the polls after the leadership change has subsided, and the Coalition are still favourites to win the election.

But Labor is still polling better than before the leadership change, and the Vote Compass data reveals that the story is not about Tony Abbot and female voters, but male voter attitudes to Julia Gillard.