Political Poll for The Independent

More than one in five people who voted Liberal Democrat at the May general election say they would now vote Labour, according to a survey for The Independent.

The ComRes poll shows that Nick Clegg’s party has lost the support of almost four in 10 of the people who backed the party in May.  Only 62 per cent of them would vote for the party in another election today.

The proportion of Liberal Democrat voters who say they would now vote Labour has risen from 15 to 22 per cent since last month. A further seven per cent would switch to the Tories.

However, the Liberal Democrats appear to have halted the slide in its ratings since May, when it won 23 per cent of the votes. According to ComRes, Mr Clegg’s party is now on 18 per cent, up two points on last month’s ratings.  The Tories, on 38 per cent, are down one point while Labour, on 34 per cent,  is up one point since last month.

There are signs that men are more opposed than women to the Liberal Democrats’ decision to join forces with the Tories.  ComRes found that only 15 per cent of men would vote Liberal Democrat in a general election today, compared to 21 per cent of women.  Tory support is also unevenly split between the sexes; 41 per cent of men and 34 per cent of women would now vote for David Cameron’s  party.

ComRes telephoned a random sample of 1,000 GB adults on September 3-5, 2010.  Data were weighted demographically and by past vote.  ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.