A blog by Luke Akehurst about politics, elections, and the Labour Party - With subtitles for the Hard of Left. Just for the record: all the views expressed here are entirely personal and do not necessarily represent the positions of any organisations I am a member of.

Monday, November 27, 2006

Cameron in IDS polling territory

The MORI poll reported in the Observer yesterday shows (their words) this:

"satisfaction ratings among British voters have plummeted lower than Tony Blair's, a new Ipsos Mori poll reveals, raising fresh questions over whether his rebranding of the party has worked.
As he approaches his first anniversary as leader next month, the Conservatives are still two points ahead of Labour, on 35 to 33 per cent of the vote among those absolutely certain to go to the ballot box. But attempts to woo women and young people with initiatives such as promising tax relief on childcare, recruiting more female MPs or sympathising with hoodies appear to have failed, with the two per cent rise in Tory support since the general election - when Michael Howard was in charge - coming mostly from men and the middle-aged.

One year on and Cameron is slippingTory leader's satisfaction ratings are comparable to that of Howard, Hague and IDS, new poll shows Gaby Hinsliff, political editorSunday November 26, 2006The Observer
David Cameron's satisfaction ratings among British voters have plummeted lower than Tony Blair's, a new Ipsos Mori poll reveals, raising fresh questions over whether his rebranding of the party has worked.
As he approaches his first anniversary as leader next month, the Conservatives are still two points ahead of Labour, on 35 to 33 per cent of the vote among those absolutely certain to go to the ballot box. But attempts to woo women and young people with initiatives such as promising tax relief on childcare, recruiting more female MPs or sympathising with hoodies appear to have failed, with the two per cent rise in Tory support since the general election - when Michael Howard was in charge - coming mostly from men and the middle-aged.
The revelation that only 25 per cent of the electorate consider themselves 'satisfied' with Cameron's performance as leader of the opposition - rising only to 45 per cent among Tory voters, down from 60 per cent in February - will be a blow to his inner circle, given that it suggests a similar trajectory to his failed predecessors Howard, Iain Duncan Smith and William Hague.
The most common reason for dissatisfaction was lack of clarity about his policies.
Damagingly, voters who previously approved of Cameron are now starting to turn against him, according to Mori founder Sir Robert Worcester."

The actual figures "found Conservative support at 35 per cent, Labour on 33 and the Liberal Democrats on 20 per cent among those certain to vote - who made up 56 per cent of those questioned. Among all those giving a preference, Labour has a five-point lead, but these individuals are not all likely to vote."

Sounds like a good reason to intriduce compulsory voting.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Be careful what you wish for. Compulsory voting could have quite unpleasant unintended consequences. Look at what happened with the all postal ballot experiment in Yorkshire and the Humber in 2004. I was agent in what was supposed to be a relatively safe/ slightly marginal Labour ward at the time and we got absolutely crucifed as a result of people who wouldn't usually bother voting sending in their postal votes.

12:47 am, November 30, 2006

 

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