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Month: October 2009

The Osborne gamble: The first telephone poll

The Osborne gamble: The first telephone poll

A mixed bag for George as we assess the reaction I don’t normally cover ComRes polls for the Daily Politics programme because there’s no voting intention question and the samples are not past voted weighted. I’m making an exception this afternoon because there’s been no polling data from anybody this week other than YouGov. Today’s survey found 43% of those questioned said they trusted the Conservatives most to ‘put in place the right conditions for a strong economic recovery’, compared…

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Is “fighting big government” going to resonate?

Is “fighting big government” going to resonate?

Or has Cameron provided the ammunition for Labour? The critical element about party leaders’ big conference speeches ahead of general elections is that they define the big message that will be put to the voters and the core proposition on which they will be asking the public to vote for them. Several of the papers this morning pick out the Cameron approach to big government and the state as their view of the over-arching theme and, indeed, the way they…

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Is a Labour victory a near certainty?

Is a Labour victory a near certainty?

Wikipedia Are there any chances of an upset? At last we have it – the date for the Glasgow NE by election to fill the vacancy created when former speaker, Michael Martin, stepped down as an MP in June. It’ll take place on November 12th which is just over a year after Labour’s stunning victory in Glenrothes when extraordinarily the total of votes cast for the party exceeded that at the general election. Clearly all the parties, particularly Labour, have…

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YouGov’s survey on reaction to the speech

YouGov’s survey on reaction to the speech

YouGov Has this got any electoral significance? Well here’s the big news. A sample of speech watchers that was made up of 78% Tory voters before the speech started became 84% afterwards. Wow! The sample was not politically or demographically weighted and I regard it as meaningless fluff in terms of trying to predict the general election. This is the same as what I said about a similar poll last week after Brown’s speech. The only difference today is that…

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Did it seem to be a bit low-key?

Did it seem to be a bit low-key?

I’m on a train and only caught snippets so I cannot judge the speech. We should be getting an instant verdict from YouGov at just after 5pm,. I’m a bit doubtful about this form of polling because the sample is made up just of people who watched the speech. Last week there was no attempt to weight the Brown reaction and I assume the same will apply this afternoon. The critical thing in determining overall reaction is how its reported…

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Labour move to within 9 points in today’s tracker

Labour move to within 9 points in today’s tracker

CON 40% (-3) LAB 31% (+2) LD 18%(+2) Yet again the daily poll produces a surprise We now have, somewhat earlier than I was expecting, today’s daily tracker from, YouGov and the figures will come as something of a surprise. It’s hard to offer any technical explanation and my sense is that we are seeing a hardening of Labour support as the political environment gets hotter. YouGov is unlike any of the other pollsters in that it only questions those…

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Has Cameron got away with his Lisbon ambivalence?

Has Cameron got away with his Lisbon ambivalence?

How’s he survived without re-opening the wounds? Just cast your minds back five days to Saturday when news came through of the overwhelming YES to the Lisbon Treaty in the Irish referendum. This, everybody seemed to be saying, could not have come at a worse time for the Conservatives just as their Manchester conference was opening. For was the leader going to be able to side-step the issue of a UK referendum given that the treaty looks set to be…

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