the common touch

the common touch

The ability of a wealthy, elite, or powerful person to communicate with and resonate with so-called common people. He was supposed to have the common touch needed to resonate with Middle America, but when he wasn't able to answer a simple question about the price of milk, a lot of voters started to see him as a phony.
See also: common, touch
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

common touch, the

The ability to appeal to the ordinary person's sensibilities and interests. For example, The governor is an effective state leader who also happens to have the common touch. This phrase employs common in the sense of "everyday" or "ordinary." [c. 1940]
See also: common
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

the common touch

COMMON If someone in a position of power has the common touch, they are able to communicate well with ordinary people. Although he was born into wealth, he prides himself on having the common touch. Everyone agrees that he is one of their most talented politicians but he lacks the common touch.
See also: common, touch
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

the common touch

the ability to get on with or appeal to ordinary people.
An obsolete sense of common (which comes from Latin communis meaning ‘affable’) may have influenced this phrase, as may a Shakespearean phrase used in his play about the great exponent of the common touch, King Henry V , on the eve of the battle of Agincourt: ‘a little touch of Harry in the night’.
1910 Rudyard Kipling If If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch …
See also: common, touch
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

the ˌcommon ˈtouch

the ability of a powerful or famous person to talk to and understand ordinary people: Despite being one of the richest and most famous women in the world, she never lost the common touch.
See also: common, touch
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • common touch, the
  • common thread
  • thread
  • in the Common Era
  • (as) common as an old shoe
  • common as an old shoe
  • common
  • common as muck
  • as common as muck
  • common decency
References in periodicals archive
Summary: What was interesting about the leader was that he showed that he had the common touch.
Rahul Gandhi strikes a chord with Indians in UAE
#Both of Diana's boys, Princes William and Harry, have chosen wives with the common touch. William and Kate have won the affection of people worldwide, and now Harry appears to have picked a winner in Meghan Markle.
LOVE AMID HORRORS; #Madeuthink; WHAT WE'RE ALL SAYING
She's got the common touch and a razor sharp wit to match.
STAR OF THE WEEK; SUNDAY PEOPLE * DECEMBER 3, 2017 LIFESTYLE on TV Melanie Blake Follow Melanie on @MELANIEBLAKEUK This show really
Many people talk about aspiration but Andy is a living example - a working class lad from Liverpool who went to a -comprehensive and got a place at Cambridge University." He added: "Andy also has that one thing all leaders crave - the common touch."
Prescott backs Burnham for Labour party leader
The hotel offers Asian-style five-star service, (like British 5-star service, only with additional noodle-slurping) but this doc is more interested in the common touch as it focuses on some of the new staff recruited from the local area.
WE LOVE DOCUMENTARY
The truth is if you lose the common touch, you lose your seat.
Straight arrow nails the votes
FUTURE kings may well need the common touch to endear themselves to hoi polloi - but a little subtlety, please.
Creeping up to the royals
Kate also showed she is handy at the common touch as she accepted the gift of a babygro from a young ex-offender.
Kate rules the royal waves
It's of no 'mater', really, especially when you have got a qualification in the common touch. Here's the council's highest-paid employee's latest work on Twitter, a contender for "what I did on my holidays" if ever I saw one and worth a smiley sticker on the CV.
Erudite observation of a learned man; THE RED THE RED Behind Behind headlines headlines the the STEVE STEVE with with BUTTON BUTTON CHILTON CHILTON//Got a story? Email redbuttoncov@gmail.com / For more, visit www.coventrytelegraph.net/redbutto//Got a story? Email redbuttoncov@gmail.com / For more, visit www.coventrytelegraph.net/redbutto
It's PS10.95 from www.liberty.co.uk For wine fans with a sense of humour, try the Fred and Friends Winestein - a tankard glass with wine glass shape interior that will add the common touch, PS13.95 from www.creativegadgets.com A wine bottle masquerading as something else.
FIVE FABULOUS; Winning wonders for Welsh wine buffs
Out of the current crop of stand-ups, there's no gimmick, none of the Russell Brand-style celebrity, he has none of the cult appeal of a Mighty Boosh, none of the shock factor you'd get from an Alan Carr or the common touch of a Peter Kay.
culture: Good Evans ought to stick to the saucepans; Lee Evans, Newcastle Arena, Saturday
He walked with kings but never lost the common touch. He appeared on the cover of SARASOTA Magazine--twice!--and raised thousands of dollars for the Humane Society, Animal Rescue Coalition, Community AIDS Network, the Arts Council, etc.
"Of course I'm sure. I read it in ..." Mr. Chatterbox: this month: in memory of Peanut
The two queens set the most amazing example to the people they represented and never lost the common touch or the respect and affection of the people.
Letter: Great queens
He displays the common touch in his Psalm against the Donatists by writing it in a style that the common people could understand and sing.
St Augustine
Above all, he was a Pontiff who had the common touch - at ease with workmen and nurses, kings and presidents.
Opinion: Pope who stuck to his principles