The Eurovision thread

The Eurovision thread

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Tomorrow sees the annual European music extravaganza that is Eurovision, but whom to back and lay? In the first semi-final we saw the Russian entry get booed, some say for a mixture of Russia’s contretemps in Ukraine and Russia’s approach to the LGBT community. Given the demographics of Eurovision watchers and voters, that may not help Russia, so I’m laying Russia. YouGov conducted some polling on this, and they found  55% think Russia will do worse at Eurovision because of…

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EdM’s Labour is attracting far fewer Lib Dem converts for the May 22nd Euros than for the general election

EdM’s Labour is attracting far fewer Lib Dem converts for the May 22nd Euros than for the general election

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The voter churn is much nuanced than many in the red team think The above chart is based on the last three Euro2014 polls where there were Westminster numbers as well. The figures shown are proportions of 2010 LDs saying they’ll vote LAB in the general election and those who’ll support the party in the May 22nd Euros. As can be seen there’s quite a difference which raises questions about the LAB strategy with this key group of voters who…

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Welcome back Marf and the second 35% share for LAB from YouGov this week

Welcome back Marf and the second 35% share for LAB from YouGov this week

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@YouGov Two 35% LAB shares & a 37% this week – the worst period for LAB since Jul 2010. pic.twitter.com/qnEiLypmSF — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) May 9, 2014 Looking back over the past decade there’s little doubt that Westminster voting intentions can be all over the place in the closing phase of the Euro elections campaign. It happened in 2004 and 2009 so maybe there’s a case for saying that we oughtn’t to read too much into the current comparatively poor…

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Local By-Election Preview: May 8th 2014

Local By-Election Preview: May 8th 2014

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Roman Bank on Fenland (Conservative defence) Result of last election for council (2011): Conservatives 34, Independents 4, Liberal Democrats 2 (Conservative majority of 28) Result of last election for ward (2011) : Emboldened denotes elected Conservatives 1,256, 1,092, 1,007 Labour 590 Liberal Democrats 361 Candidates duly nominated: Samantha Clark (Con), Stephen Court (Lib Dem), Barry Diggle (Lab), Alan Lay (UKIP), Erbie Murat (Ind) Fenland (located between Huntingdonshire and King’s Lynn) is about a bedrock of Conservative support as you can…

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The Tories still odds on to break the 25 year long series of failed by election defences while in government

The Tories still odds on to break the 25 year long series of failed by election defences while in government

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The Tories still very strong favourite to hold Newark. Ukip now out to 5/1 pic.twitter.com/8cY37u9Vvs — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) May 8, 2014 Will this survive the first poll? So far I have not had confirmation that a Newark poll is in the pipeline but it is hard to envisage such a key contest taking place without a survey. Maybe we’ll have to wait until after the May 22nd elections. Until then punters are flying blind. Will UKIP’s Roger Helmer split…

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The Populus monthly aggregates show LAB losing a seventh of its 2010 LD switchers over the past quarter

The Populus monthly aggregates show LAB losing a seventh of its 2010 LD switchers over the past quarter

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The red team’s electoral crutch is getting shorter One of the best polling innovations this year has been the Populus monthly aggregates for the FT based on its twice weekly online polls. Whilst there can be greater variation in individual polls the aggregate helps us see the bigger picture and here, as the chart shows, the LAB shares have been edging downwards. Digging into the poll detail one of the reasons might be a lessening of the level of 2010…

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Lord Ashcroft teases us about his latest poll of the marginals. Can anyone decipher this?

Lord Ashcroft teases us about his latest poll of the marginals. Can anyone decipher this?

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What a tease @LordAshcrof is. His exchange with @DPJHodges Does this mean new marginals poll is good or bad for EdM? pic.twitter.com/I7S8dtP3Z9 — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) May 7, 2014 Just to note that Telegraph blogger, Dan Hodges, is an ex-LAB staffer who has never knowingly written anything that is positive about the younger Miliband. My reading of the exchange is that there’s been little movement in the marginals – but maybe I’m wrong. We’ll know two weeks on Saturday. Mike…

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Labour showing that is doesn’t understand the current electoral dyanmic

Labour showing that is doesn’t understand the current electoral dyanmic

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What Labour's petty attack ad, sorry PPB, tells me is they have no economic plan and nothing positive to say. Petty politics. — Tim Farron (@timfarron) May 7, 2014 On this @DPJHodges is right. LAB PPB is shallow & silly and could alienate LD switchers on which all party's GE2015 hopes are dependent on. — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) May 7, 2014