YouGov

How 732 who identified with the party became 435

The above panel is from the latest YouGov poll that was in The People yesterday and shows the dramatic differences between those who told the pollster in 2005 which party they identified with and who they now say they will vote for.

So in the sample there were 732 “Labour identifiers” from May 2005. By late July 2009 that number has become 435 – or just 59%.

At the same time the Tories and Lib Dems seem big movement in their direction.

There’s nothing special about this particular YouGov poll – the numbers have been broadly in the same range in recent weeks – but I highlight them to show the sheer scale of Labour’s challenge. Two out of five people who four years ago were happy to say they identified with the party have now gone elsewhere.

Mike Smithson

On PB Channel 2 – “Was Michael Howard right?” by Richard Nabavi