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ITV News Index

ComRes interviewed the British public on behalf of ITV News

Date Published: 19 Mar 2013

Categories: Economy | Politics | Public and communities | UK

Description

COMRES/ ITV NEWS POLL: NEARLY HALF OF POPULATION THINKS OSBORNE SHOULD BE REPLACED AS CHANCELLOR

 

Ahead of tomorrow’s Budget, the latest Index poll conducted by ComRes and to be broadcast on ITV News reveals that fewer than one in five (18%) of the British public think George Osborne should remain as Chancellor. Nearly half, 44%, think he should be replaced and 38% say they don’t know. The public are divided over exactly who should replace George Osborne. 12% say Vince Cable, 5% say William Hague and 3% say Theresa May. One in five, 22%, say ‘someone else’.

Furthermore, asked if the Chancellor should abandon his current planned spending cuts in favour of investment in infrastructure, even if this means adding to the deficit, two in five (41%) agree, 27% disagree and nearly a third (31%) are not sure.

On the state of the economy, only one in four (25%) think the country is going in the right direction. 57% disagree. Three in five (61%) believe the country is heading for another wave of recession and more than half, 54%, disagree that the way the Government is going about cutting public spending is fair.
A majority (56%) agree the Government is cutting spending too much and too quickly. The net score for this measure is 29, the highest it has been since July 2012.

Asked about their trust in political leaders, ‘economic’ trust in George Osborne and David Cameron has declined since last year. Net economic trust in George Osborne currently stands at -40, a 13 point drop since this time last year. Likewise, net economic trust in David Cameron is -22, an 11 point drop since March 2012.

While net economic trust in Ed Miliband has improved 14 points year on year, his net score of -32 remains below that of David Cameron. In addition, economic trust in Ed Balls remains static year on year. His economic trust score is -41 a mere four point increase year on year (-45).

 

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