Do voters like the man but not the Tories?

There’s an interesting article by Andrew Grice in the Independent who has had, as he says, “a peek” at some of Labour’s private polling.

He writes: “..Labour asked small groups of voters how people would feel if they woke up to find there was a Tory government. “No different” and “no change” were frequent answers. So the Tories’ “now for change” slogan hasn’t worked yet. How would people feel if Labour was still in power after an election? “No change” came the reply…

…Interestingly, Labour’s research suggests voters are open to the Tory dividing line of “Tory honesty versus Labour dishonesty” when it is run by Mr Cameron, but not when it is drawn by the shadow Chancellor, George Osborne.”

That last point has been supported by quite a lot of other polling which suggests that Cameron the man is a more powerful proposition than his party. I wonder whether on the first point the outcome above would have been the same if people had been asked “how people would feel if they woke up to find that Cameron was Prime Minister

I’ve long argued that the Tories do better in the polls when Cameron has been in the news during the days up to the fieldwork.

The full Grice piece is well worth reading.

Mike Smithson