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Month: February 2010

Welcome to the YouGov/Sun Daily Tracker

Welcome to the YouGov/Sun Daily Tracker

The Sun Get used to regular numbers every night Without much fanfare or advance warning the YouGov Daily Tracker for the Sun was launched overnight and shows a small deterioration in Labour’s position since the last published survey from the firm more than two and a half weeks ago. As can be seen the shares are CON 39%(+1): LAB 30%(-1): LD 18% (-1) – all within the margin of error but nothing to suggest that the much vaunted TV extravaganza…

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When will the next poll be?

When will the next poll be?

UKPR I know a lot of people are getting a bit frustrated as they wait for the next poll. Hopefully something will come along quite soon. In the meantime I’ve reproduced all the polls for 2010 so far. Tomorrow Andy Morris, research director at Angus Reid, will be taking online questions. This will start after lunch. Mike Smithson

The great turnout quandary

The great turnout quandary

Will it be up, down, or about the same? A couple of weeks back Nick Palmer, MP, wrote that he was looking forward to reading my thoughts on turnout and the reason I’ve waited for so long is that, frankly, I’m only now forming a view. For the big thing about this election is that for only the second time in 31 years is there a serious chance of the ruling party losing power. That of itself adds an extra…

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What about Northern Ireland’s 18 seats?

What about Northern Ireland’s 18 seats?

Could this be where power ends up resting? (Anybody who watched last week’s Question Time from Belfast would have been left in no doubt about the complexities and continuing tensions within Northern Ireland politics. With all sorts of different developments that could have an impact on the UK outcome I’ve asked long-standing PBer, Yokel, to give us a run-down. In this first part he looks at the big picture – then in future posts he’ll examine the eight critical seats….

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Is Number 10 taking note of the Andy Cooke analysis?

Is Number 10 taking note of the Andy Cooke analysis?

I heard this evening that Downing Street is aware that it cannot rely on the strict UNS calculation that the Tories need a 10-11% gap in the popular vote just to ensure an overall majority. Clearly as the polls have got a bit tighter then all considerations have to be examined should Brown decide to do what he didn’t do in October 2007, call a general election when things looked favourable to his party. For the main point about going…

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Can Wright’s re-election chances now be written off?

Can Wright’s re-election chances now be written off?

Was it this rather than “scum” that will seal his fate? This is how, as of 4pm, the Labour MP for Telford, David Wright, was dealing on his website with the row that has erupted about him. In the betting there did not appear to be a betting market on whether Telford MP will manage to hold on to his position as a government whip but we could see one this evening. For an object lesson in how not to…

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What factors make it different in the marginals?

What factors make it different in the marginals?

Wikimedia Can we identify what’s driving the votes? Over the past week or so we’ve been putting a lot of focus on the marginals – the seats where the fates of Mr. Brown and Mr. Cameron will be decided. For there has been a fair bit of polling evidence, still far from conclusive, that there have been sharper moves to the Tories in these places than in the country as a whole. A key part of the Andy Cooke thesis,…

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Andy Cooke’s seat model – refined

Andy Cooke’s seat model – refined

(The above is a revised seat model by long-standing PBers and statistician, Andy Cooke – the first version of which was published here and here after two closely argued papers that questioned the standard orthodoxy about the UNS – the uniform national swing which is the traditional, if not always accurate of projecting the seat totals in the house of commons. Since then there have been no serious defences of the UNS except that this is how it has always…

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