YouGov voting intention
The monthly voting intention figures from YouGov, with changes from last month, are CON 38%(-1), LAB 33%(nc), LDEM 18%(nc).
The steadiness of the Labour and Lib Dem levels of support is the same as ICM’s poll in the week, and suggests that despite the government’s support for Israel being very unpopular, it is not yet damaging people’s support for them. ICM’s increase in the Conservative vote is obviously not reflected here: while the actual figures are within each other’s margin of error, it does make it impossible to pick out any sort of trend.
While David Cameron remains marginally ahead of Tony Blair on the best leader question, his approval ratings have dropped markedly - down to +2 from +14 the last time YouGov asked the question in April. YouGov’s daily trackers suggest this is a result of a drop around the time of the “hug-a-hoodie” speech and the delay of his EPP pledge.
Filed under: Voting Intention, YouGov
The next election is a long way off so there is much to play for – and pay for.
I hope however that we get a hung parliament. Not one of the main parties deserves an overall majority.
With all of them probably relying on State funding to promote their ideas it would seem only right that all are involved in a more tangible way than they have for most of the last 10 years.
I am fed up anyway of the Political parties: pretending to give us democracy but in reality manoeuvring favours around and at great expense to the Taxpayer.
I am not interested in proportional representation. We elect individuals to represent us – what Party they belong to is irrelevant to me.
John Charlesworth,
could not agree with you more, except on one point, this government admitted that taxes had to increase, while the previous Tory government did nothing but spin (like nothing before or since) stating that they were cutting taxes while all the time raising them, the fuel escalator, the poll tax and doubling vat to name but three!!!
I agree generally with both comments above; however, I’d go further in saying that, at present, I feel no one deserves my vote at all - and that is coming from someone who believes voting at elections should become compulsory.
More than anything else, simplifying our tax system, and making it fairer, would be one of the best moves a political party could make. Create a system which gives few people the desire to live on welfare or turn to crime, in which hard work - at whatever level - is rewarded, and we could see a massive change in work culture, education and lifestyle for the vast majority of people in this country. Get rid of the ridiculous tax credits, which cost far too much to administer and are too easy to abuse, raise the tax-exempt threshold to a much higher level - say, £10,000 to £15,000 per annum - and suddenly you have a population that works to live life, not merely to survive.
Developing our own foreign policy, and not one that rides on the backs of others (the US in particular), would also be a positive move. For too long we have cowtowed to the US and, to a lesser degree, Europe. We were once a strong voice on the international stage; the actions of recent years especially, and the undermining of our previously excellent relations with the Arab world, have weakened us far too much. It is time for a strong leader who will speak nationally and internationally for the UK, but one who understands that we must work WITH the entire international community and avoid the fear of foreigners politicians and th media often portray. The current PM would have done so much better had he not sided so heavily with the US, had he not been seen as Bush’s mouthpiece. Yet he has done only what his predecessors have done and, no doubt, future PMs will do. The days of our government and country being mere puppets must end.
Our politicians want the public to trust them. Well, it is about time they earned that trust instead of just expecting it. But for the time being, I see no one, from any party, who can do that.
The problem with the free comments so far is that they are largely self defeating. Take the example of Young v old, by and large older voters are more likely to vote than young ( over 55 v under 25), with the young saying ” Why bother the parties do nothing for us, so why should I vote”.
They are of course right but for the wrong reason, the reality is the parties do nothing for them because they don’t vote. If you look at YouGov poll results on Education and compare both Tory amd labour policies for popularity you find that on selection, grammerschools and discipline the pary’s policies are more popular with over 55’s that under 25’s.
Both parties favour policies that criticise comprehensive education for it’s failings even though it is more popular with the young people who have experience than with older people who didn’t have it.
Both party’s use focus groups and polls to find which policies will win the most support with people who are likely to vote, and particularly switch in key areas.
Therefore the irony, if not catch 22 is that the more people say “No party should win or no party is worth voting for, because they don’t change anything or address the issues I care about”, the less likely it is to happen.
As a result the party’s focus more and more on the concerns of those who say they will vote and might switch so that the range of issues and policies which are fought over becomes increasingly narrow.
What john, Garry, and David, are complaining about has become a slef fulfilling prophecy.
Peter.
Peter,
You are 100% correct.If you have a record of non voting political parties will simply take you out of the equation and focus their efforts, and policies, on voters . Voting changes the behaviour of political parties ,not voting doesn’t do a single thing-although all parties pay lip service to voter turnout it matters not a jot to them in reality.
W
Electoral Calculus has its latest prediction which includes all boundary changes http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/
Labour are still 20 short of an overall majority.
If you simplify the tax system, you make it less fair and more crude. It becomes less responsive to individual situations.
May be we all agree theres not much to vote for; democracy has failed us by manipulation and spin. Who is to be blamed? now there’s a question. - I think the system is undermined by insidious greed - on all our parts - the voter who will vote for any party that promises another carrot in the pot, the commercial entities who will subsidise any cause that benefits their shareholders/salaries - and the answer must be in tackling that nasty sin. But who can do that ? Only the religions, the belief -systems, imposed by the converted. And who, pray, wants those back? In the England of my young days there was a decent amount of restriction on excess profits - public ownership, etc. and it was called Socialism, and it was our religion - well still is, I suppose - had it been imposed, it would have been called totalitarianism but even the gentle voluntary acceptance was derided and sneered at by the right - well, the alternative has been tried and it don’t work. Owen Swindale