Lunchtime round-up with Marf on the pensioners bonds and the coalition struggling in the “blame for the cuts” tracker
Politicalbetting's Marf on Osborne's new pensioner bonds pic.twitter.com/low9iePcEt
— Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) January 15, 2015
Pensioners, as we all know, are most likely to be on the electoral register and most likely to vote. They are also the segment of the population most likely to have savings on which, in the era of ultra low interest rates, they are receiving a pittance. Also the polling suggests that they are more likely to be CON supporters than other age segments.
This doesn’t look good for the blues & yellows
The coalition moves to its worst ever rating in YouGov's "blame for the cuts" tracker – up 4% since December pic.twitter.com/oqtxPDAY8Y
— Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) January 15, 2015
Longstanding PBers will know that I’ve been following this tracker since its launch shortly after Osborne’s first budget in June 2010. At the time the previous LAB government was more than 20 points behind the coalition and I observed that this gap would have to close if LAB was to have any chance.
We are all aware how the Tories and LDs will always respond to attacks on their economic policy by referring to the last LAB government. This resonated a lot in the early days. Now it is not having the same impact and can sound rather tired.