AV Referendum Poll for No to AV Campaign

A public opinion poll on behalf of the No to AV Campaign.

Date Published: 27 Apr 2011

Categories: Energy | Media | Politics | Public and communities | Technology & Telecoms | UK

Description

LABOUR VOTERS OVERWHELMINGLY REJECT ALTERNATIVE VOTE SYSTEM

NEW COMRES POLL SHOWS LABOUR VOTERS ARE SPLIT 61-39 AGAINST AV

OVERALL 'NO' VOTE TAKES RECORD 20 POINT LEAD

LABOUR NO to AV: "It's great to see that Labour voters are seeing the arguments and coming to their own conclusion that the Alternative Vote is unfair, expensive and unwanted"
 
A poll released by ComRes for the NO to AV campaign has shown that Labour voters oppose AV by 61 per cent to 39 per cent, suggesting that the Vote Labour, Vote No campaign (www.VoteLabourVoteNo.com) has taken a significant lead among Labour supporters.

Siobhain McDonagh, Patron of Labour NO to AV and MP for Mitcham and Morden said:

"It is great to see that Labour voters are seeing the arguments and coming to their own conclusion that the Alternative Vote is unfair and expensive and unwanted. The senior Lib Dems on the Yes to AV campaign have got increasingly shrill and ridiculous in their attacks on a no vote, but Labour aren't fooled by Clegg and his cronies."

The same poll by ComRes has given a 'no' vote a record 20 per cent lead over 'yes' among those likely to vote.

Removing 'don't knows' and including people most likely to vote, the response to the question (as it will be printed on ballot papers in a week's time) "at present, the UK uses the "first past the post" system to elect MPs to the Hosue of Commons. Should the "alternative vote" system be used instead?" was:

YES - 40%
NO - 60%

When 'don't knows' are included the response was:

YES - 33%
NO - 45%
DON'T KNOW - 22%

A spokesman for the NO to AV campaign said:
 
“This is the latest in a series of promising polls but there will be no complacency from the campaign for One Person, One Vote. With just over a week to polling day, NO to AV activists will be working hard to ensure that people go out and vote on 5 May.
 
“Another ten million No campaign leaflets will be sent out before polling day and we have hundreds of campaign events planned for the final week. One thing is clear: the more people find out about the Alternative Vote, the less they like it. We want to reach out to every single voter to urge them to keep One Person, One Vote on 5 May.” 

In the first question of its kind, ComRes also asked respondents ‘How likely are you to change your mind between now and 5th May?’, with 95 per cent of respondents saying they are unlikely to change their minds between now and polling day.

Further analysis suggests that those voting ‘no’ are less likely to change their mind than ‘yes’ voters.

When ComRes published a poll on 12 May last year, a ‘yes’ vote was leading on 59%, ‘no’ on 32% and ‘Don’t Know’ on 10%, suggesting a decisive turn-around over the past year. 

ComRes telephoned a random sample of 1034 adults across the United Kingdom on 21-25 April 2011.  Data were weighted to be representative of all adults and by past vote recall.  The AV result is predicated on those who said they are ‘absolutely certain’ to vote on 5 May.  ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.