Ladbrokes make Salmond the favourite to “win” tonight’s debate

Ladbrokes make Salmond the favourite to “win” tonight’s debate

Comments 0 Comment

Debate betting prices from Ladbrokes http://t.co/OKFhPuoEOc for tonight's Salmond-Darling BBC TV debate pic.twitter.com/SOHP52ts3N — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) August 25, 2014 Surely the SNP leader will be better prepared than last time? Tonight’s the big one in the the IndyRef campaign. With postal packs due to go out by the end of the week large numbers of Scottish voters could have cast their votes a week today. The election itself is not until September 18th but the nature of the increasingly…

Read More Read More

Not only will the future of the UK be determined on September 18 – but Shadsy’s bonus could be on the line

Not only will the future of the UK be determined on September 18 – but Shadsy’s bonus could be on the line

Comments 0 Comment

The @LadPolitics #indyref money staked chart showing more going on YES pic.twitter.com/Gj85NQLt0S — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) August 22, 2014 Ladbrokes are betting that it’ll be NO Great article on the IndyRef betting on the PoliticalBookie – the blog of Shadsy, a PB regular and the man who runs the politics desk at Ladbrokes. Looking at the way the betting has gone and the pattern of the wagers being made Shadsy has this very revealing observation:- “..To be totally honest, we…

Read More Read More

Unless independence campaigners can convince the oldies in the next 3 weeks then YES, surely, is doomed

Unless independence campaigners can convince the oldies in the next 3 weeks then YES, surely, is doomed

Comments 0 Comment

Like in all elections the oldies are crucial A lot has been talked about the gender effect in the September 18th Scottish referendum and today a new Survation poll of pensioners for the Sunday Post highlights the generation battle. Not only are the oldest oldies the most certain to vote they are more than two to one for NO. The charts show the certainty to vote proportions and across the older age ranges as well as their stated voting intentions….

Read More Read More

ComRes online poll sees Lab lead down one to two – But are the Tories losing their toxicity?

ComRes online poll sees Lab lead down one to two – But are the Tories losing their toxicity?

Comments 0 Comment

The ComRes online poll for the Independent on Sunday and Sunday Mirror is out.  Is the Tories’ toxicity no longer an issue? ComRes note “the poll’s Favourability Index finds that the Conservative Party is viewed more favourably than Labour for the first time, suggesting that the Tory brand is now seen as no more “toxic” than the Labour one.” On a net basis, the Blues and Reds are tied, as ever this is just one poll, and we’ll need to…

Read More Read More

Let’s end this lazy assumption that UKIP voters are just Tories on holiday

Let’s end this lazy assumption that UKIP voters are just Tories on holiday

Comments 0 Comment

The numbers show that this is simply not the case You read and see this all the time both inside the Westminster bubble and out of it. Ukip voters, so the pervasive narrative goes, are simply ex-CON voters who can, if Lynton Crosby plays his cards properly, be seduced back into the fold thus providing the blues with the platform to secure an overall majority next May. Thus the following is a statement that many might find hard to comprehend…

Read More Read More

The Populus “Mondays good for LAB, Fridays for CON” sequence finally comes to an end

The Populus “Mondays good for LAB, Fridays for CON” sequence finally comes to an end

Comments 0 Comment

It had to happen at some stage, I suppose, but today’s Populus online LAB lead of 6% brings to an end an extraordinary polling sequence – that those polls published on Mondays tended to show movement towards Labour while those coming out on Fridays moved back towards the Tories. Quite why this is hard to say. Last month Anthony Wells at UKPR ran the numbers through his computer and found that since this polling series was established in July 2013…

Read More Read More

David Herdson wonders how much we can trust the referendum polls

David Herdson wonders how much we can trust the referendum polls

Comments 0 Comment

From Prof John Curtice's site – WhatScotsThink most recent #indyref poll of polls pic.twitter.com/BVdRwjNQcu — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) August 22, 2014 How effective are the pollsters with such a one-off event? Knowledge, information and judgement: the past, present and future of effective prediction.  The problem, as far as the Scottish referendum is concerned, is that all three are badly affected by the paucity of precedent.  There have been referendums before, both in Britain and elsewhere, but all have their drawbacks…

Read More Read More

Local By-Election Preview: August 21st 2014

Local By-Election Preview: August 21st 2014

Comments 0 Comment

Wroxham on Broadland (Lib Dem defence) Result of last election to council (2011): Conservatives 34, Liberal Democrats 11, Labour 1 (Conservative majority of 21) Result of last election in ward (2011): Emboldened denotes elected Liberal Democrats 985, 829 Conservatives 741, 537 Labour 227 Greens 197 Candidates duly nominated: Malcolm Kemp (Lab), Malcolm Springall (Lib Dem), Fran Whymark (Con) Broadland, the council that seperates the urbanness of Norwich from the coastal Norfolk North, has been a right old Conservative heartland from…

Read More Read More