Can his intervention help Labour turn the tide? So he’s back nearly three years after he stepped aside to let Mr. Brown become leader and PM. What’s going to be the impact? Can Tony turn some of those Tory voters who went Labour in 1997 and have now moved away? Or has his influence on the UK scene declined the longer he has been away. There are also the controversial reports of his earning as an ex-PM. But Blair, whatever…
Who’ll be the most “creative” with the use of numbers? With tactical voting looking set to play a crucial and possibly decisive role in the coming battle this could be the general election of the bar chart. These are deployed by campaigners of all colours to persuade supporters of other candidates in specific seats that their choice does not stand a chance and that they offer the ONLY WAY OF BEATING/STOPPING XYX in that constituency. Mostly the appeal will be…
SkyNews
ICM Mar 20 data Voted in 2005 Aged 18 – 24 2010 CON voters 89.9% 3.7% 2010 LAB voters 81.6% 8.9% 2010 Lib Dem voters 88.9% 4.4% Is this a problem with having greater appeal to the young? The table shows two sets of figures from the latest ICM poll: the proportion who voted for one of the main parties in 2005 and the proportion of their overall support now coming from the 18-24 old age-group. This is relevant because…
Will Cameron be the winner of the BA and rail actions? Most national strikes have a political dimension and all involving the transport sector do. They impact on millions of voters and how those individuals view the players could determine not just who ‘wins’ or ‘loses’ the strikes but who wins or loses the election too. The biggest short-term losers in a transport strike are invariably the public, so the blame game becomes all important. Even if aircraft keep flying,…
Populus
Will rubbishing Clegg encourage tactical voting? Being identified on both the Labour and Tory central databases as a Lib Dem in a highly marginal seat I’m getting a lot of attention from both big parties – this latest, an expensive postcard, came in the mail this morning. Squeezing known LDs is clearly a key strategy but I just wonder whether this approach is right. To me it shows simplistic thinking which might look smart at Labour HQ but is not…
Did Brown’s party recover 30+ seats? In its post mortem of the 1992 election Labour identified a key weakness which it sought to address in all the following four elections – the critical importance of the final week. For its only then that many voters start to focus on what they’ll do and when a focused get out the vote message can be most effective. For the 1997 election the party created a special final week team. Whether they did…