I’ve just got back from Manchester to find an email waiting about the ComRes poll from Andrew Hawkins, CEO of ComRes. He writes:-

“The final analysis of the ComRes instant poll for last night’s ITV News at Ten among those watching the First Election Debate, extrapolated across the GB adult population as a whole, puts the Conservatives on 35%, Labour on 28% and Liberal Democrats on 24%. This compares to the ComRes poll broadcast on ITV News at Ten on 14th April showing Conservatives on 35%, Labour on 29% and Liberal Democrats on 21%.

Of the 4,000 sample of viewers who watched the debate, their voting intentions are now Conservative 36%, Labour 24% and Lib Dems 35%. This compares to their stated voting intentions prior to the debate which stood at Conservative 39%, Labour at 27% and Liberal Democrat 21%.”

Andrew then goes on to describe the methodology which is somewhat different from what the firm normally does.

He goes on: “ComRes interviewed 4032 GB adults on 15th April by an automated telephone survey immediately after the ITV1 Leaders’ Debate. Data were weighted to be demographically representative of all GB adults and weighted by past vote recall. Respondents were selected from a pre-recruited panel of people who agreed to be contacted by telephone following the leaders’ debates to give their views. “

So it was an automated phone survey.

Mike Smithson