ITV News Daily Mail Political Poll 30th March 2015

Political poll of 1,005 GB adults for ITV News and The Daily Mail, including voting intention.

Conservatives lead by four as Miliband sees no Paxman bounce

As Parliament dissolves and the General Election campaign officially begins, the Conservatives have a four point lead over Labour in the latest ComRes poll for ITV News / Daily Mail, showing their largest lead since September 2010. The biggest change since last week has seen Labour fall by three points to 32%.

The Conservatives, on 36%, have recorded their highest level of support for three years (February 2012).

Con 36% (+1)

Lab 32% (-3)

Lib 9% (+1)

UKIP 12% (+2)

Green 5% (-2)

Others 7% (+1)

Tom Mludzinski, Head of Political Polling at ComRes said: “It is too soon to attribute any movement in the polls to the Paxman effect. While this is bound to be a volatile election with both Labour and the Conservatives running each other close, the longer term trends points towards the Conservatives beginning to dig in and strengthen their position.

Cameron’s ratings as a strong leader will serve him well through the coming seven-way debate as the challengers attempt to bring him down.”

Following Thursday’s television grilling by Jeremy Paxman, half (50%) of Britons now think David Cameron would make a better Prime Minister than Ed Miliband, compared to three in ten (29%) who say the Labour leader would make a better Prime Minister. This represents a fall of 4 points for Ed Miliband since last week.

With the seven-way television debate looming this Thursday, voters are around twice as likely to associate Mr Cameron than Mr Miliband with being “good on television” (64% vs. 31%) and “strong” (60% vs. 33%).

However, David Cameron is more likely than Ed Miliband to be associated with being arrogant by the British public (52% vs. 35%). While Ed Miliband is slightly ahead of David Cameron in being seen as genuine (51% to 45%) and understanding the real world (39% to 31%).

The public are split on the straight choice between a Labour-led government and a Conservative-led government after the next election (41% vs. 42%). However, when presented with a decision between a Conservative – Liberal Democrat coalition and a Labour – SNP coalition, there is a clear preference for the combination that has formed a government for the last five years: 45% say that they would prefer the Con – Lib option, compared to just a third (33%) who prefer the Lab – SNP option.

Three in five members (63%) of the British public disagree that a vote for a party other than the Conservatives or Labour is a wasted vote.

Date Published: 30th March 2015

Categories: GE2015 | Media | Politics | Public and communities | UK | Voting Intention

Client: ITV News / Daily Mail

Methodology

ComRes interviewed 1,005 GB adults by telephone between 28^th and 29^th March 2015. Data were weighted to be demographically representative of all GB adults. Data were also weighted by past vote recall. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.

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