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Month: July 2008

Are these the MORI numbers that will decide it?

Are these the MORI numbers that will decide it?

Is it “the economy, stupid” The above table is reproduced from the June Ipsos-MORI “Issues Index” survey which has been carried out face-to-face in the same manner for decades. What’s unique about this polling series is that two questions are put totally unprompted, and the pollster has detailed records going back to the 70s. The first asks respondents to name the single most important issue facing the country while the second involves people naming all the issues they think are…

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What price the Gordon come-back?

What price the Gordon come-back?

Guest slot by HenryG Manson Brown’s first year has been a real rollercoaster ride and most of us in the Labour Party are feeling rather unsettled and at times wanting to get off. To read the views Westminster commentators you’d be hard pressed to find anyone you thinks Brown can successfully tie his shoe-laces at the moment, never mind lead a dramatic poll recovery. The named leader polling offers grim reading. At the moment David Cameron is winning on pretty…

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Will the SNP be using this picture in Glasgow East?

Will the SNP be using this picture in Glasgow East?

Could the Thatcher stunt come to haunt Labour? An alert PB reader has reminded me that last September after Gordon Brown had his historic tea with Baroness Thatcher at Number 10 the SNP said they would use the pictures on their general election leaflets. Well now in the countdown to Glasgow East is Alex Salmond’s party going to bring this plan forward and are we we going to see pictures like the one above being revived. For even the Baroness’s…

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Is Cameron being helped by the polling revolution?

Is Cameron being helped by the polling revolution?

Would Tory leads be as big if older methodologies were still used? One factor that has completely changed the backcloth against which UK political life operates has been the almost total overhaul of the polling industry since the 2001 election to deal with what was the systemic problem of Labour over-statement. It is my contention that if the 2001 line-up of pollsters and polling methods were still in place then the current Labour poll deficits would be on a much…

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