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Author: MikeSmithson

Will Osborne’s Help To Buy help buy votes?

Will Osborne’s Help To Buy help buy votes?

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Henry G Manson on George’s cabinet quip George Osborne is said to have quipped at a Cabinet meeting earlier this year ‘hopefully we will get a little housing boom and everyone will be happy as property values go up.’ Like Gordon Brown before him, Osborne is political to his fingertips and his dual role as general election co-ordinator explicitly reflected that. The policy seems to owe much more to the political tactician rather than the office of Chancellor. The £600,000 cap…

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Obama appears to be winning the battle for public opinion over the US government shutdown

Obama appears to be winning the battle for public opinion over the US government shutdown

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If you could, would you vote to defeat, replace every member of Congress, including your rep? Yes 60%/ No 35% NBC/WSJ http://t.co/pF79rVI2Cb — PollingReport.com (@pollreport) October 11, 2013 New polling for the Wall Street Journal/NBC suggests that the Republican party rather than President Obama is paying a political price for the government shutdown. By 53% to 31% the sample put the blame on the party. To another question the poll found that just 24% said they had a favourable view…

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The CON plan for a majority is said to be based on the LAB share being restricted to 31 pc. Who are they kidding?

The CON plan for a majority is said to be based on the LAB share being restricted to 31 pc. Who are they kidding?

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This is from James Forsyth in the Spectator:- “…It is currently hard to see how either of the main parties can secure 40 per cent or more of the vote at the next general election. Indeed, there are senior figures inside Downing Street who believe that the Tories can’t realistically hope to garner this share of the vote in 2015. Instead, they argue that their most likely route to victory is to poll around 38 per cent themselves, keep the…

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I’m starting to think that UKIP could surprise us at GE2015

I’m starting to think that UKIP could surprise us at GE2015

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Even out of the spotlight their polling remains resilient Over the past month UKIP has been out of the news for all but about two days yet as the chart above shows this has hardly impacted on its YouGov poll numbers. All but one of the other online pollsters have them doing even better even though only one of them, Survation, includes the party in its main prompt. To signify UKIP with YouGov, for instance, you have to first tick…

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Miliband’s energy price freeze might or might not be good economics – but it’s certainly good politics

Miliband’s energy price freeze might or might not be good economics – but it’s certainly good politics

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The energy price issue is going to run. Cameron needs a more thought-out response pic.twitter.com/EeLkrZbjWO — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) October 9, 2013 Ed Miliband exposes Tory confusion over whether to attack "Marxist" energy price controls, ape them or simply call them a gimmick #pmqs — Nick Robinson (@bbcnickrobinson) October 9, 2013 My PMQs verdict – http://t.co/8X72exW9yp – They weren't talking about Cameron's party conference speech … — AndrewSparrow (@AndrewSparrow) October 9, 2013 Cameron needs a much better response than we…

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If the GE2015 outcome was as the current betting suggests then LAB would not do a deal with the LDs

If the GE2015 outcome was as the current betting suggests then LAB would not do a deal with the LDs

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Ladbrokes http://t.co/5ytVwnI62K GE2015 line market makes it evens that LAB will win 308 MPs or more 325+ for maj pic.twitter.com/kBxFUuMAXU — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) October 9, 2013 If they are only 17 short the Two Eds will try to go it alone Unlike all previous general elections over the past 20 years there are no spread betting prices which give a really good pointer to current betting sentiment. The great and brilliant Spreadfair spread market closed its doors just five years…

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How adding the words “and jobs” to the best party on the economy question gives a very different outcome

How adding the words “and jobs” to the best party on the economy question gives a very different outcome

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Today we saw the YouGov “best party” ratings on seven key policy areas. The economy one saw the CON lead increasing to 12%. Last month we had Ipsos-MORI asking broadly the same question with findings that were not too different from YouGov. The odd one out here is the Ashcroft marginal seats polling also published last month. Here the question was slightly different because the words “AND JOBS” were added to the best party on the economy question. No doubt…

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