IoS + Sunday Mirror Political Poll

A ComRes poll for tomorrow's Independent on Sunday and Sunday Mirror finds Labour's lead has firmed up at six points; attitudes on public spending cuts have moved against the Government; and people are unimpressed by the Big Society - by a margin of 2 to 1 they agree that it is "merely a cover for public spending cuts".

Voting intention:

Con               36% (nc)

Lab                42% (+2)

Lib Dem         11% (+1)

Other             11% (-3)

(Change since last ComRes poll for The Independent on Sunday/Sunday Mirror, 16 January.)

On the economic tracker questions all measures have worsened for the Coalition Government:

The scale of cuts planned is too severe and too fast

                             Nov        Dec           NOW

Agree                    51%        54%          57%

Disagree               34%        31%           28%

The Government is cutting public spending in a way that is fair to every section of society

                             Nov        Dec            NOW

Agree                    32%        30%           25%

Disagree               52%        53%            59%

The cuts are unfair because they will be felt more by the poor than by wealthier households

                              Nov        Dec            NOW

Agree                    56%        57%           63%

Disagree               30%        28%            24%

The Coalition Government is ensuring that the most vulnerable sections of society are protected

                            Nov        Dec            NOW

Agree                   28%        26%           22%

Disagree              51%        55%            57%

The need for cuts at the scale proposed has been exaggerated by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats for party political reasons

                            Nov        Dec            NOW

Agree                   37%        39%           41%

Disagree              42%        40%            38%

I expect to be worse off personally as a result of the spending cuts

                            Nov        Dec            NOW

Agree                   65%        66%           69%  (includes 56% of Tory voters)

Disagree              16%        16%            16%

On the Big Society, people seem to be distinctly unimpressed:

I have never heard of the Big Society

Agree               27%

Disagree           66%

I have heard of the Big Society but don’t know what it means

Agree               30%

Disagree           59%

The Government's Big Society is merely a cover for spending cuts

Agree               41%

Disagree           21%

Don’t know       38%

The Government's Big Society will succeed in fostering a culture of volunteerism

Agree               17%

Disagree           38%

Don’t know       46%

Conservative voters are the most positive about this statement but even they are split with 24% who think it will, 24% who think it won’t, and 52% who don’t know.

The Government's Big Society is largely just a gimmick

Agree               50%

Disagree          14%

Don’t know       36%

Again, Conservative voters are evenly split with almost as many who think it is just a gimmick as those who do not – 30% and 31% respectively.

The Government's Big Society will redistribute power from central government to ordinary citizens

Agree               16%

Disagree           42%