Sunday Mirror / Independent on Sunday January 2015 Political Poll

Labour (34%) remains one point ahead of the Conservatives (33%) with both parties unchanged from the last online ComRes poll for the Sunday Mirror andIndependent on Sunday at the end of 2014. UKIP also remain static on 18%, with the Liberal Democrat’s down one point and the Greens up one to 3%.

Con 33% (NC)

Lab 34% (NC)

LD 7% (-1)

UKIP 18% (NC)

Greens 3% (+1)

Others 5% (NC)

Tom Mludzinski, Head of Political Polling said, “There’s currently only one point between the two main parties and with a third of people still making their mind up the result of this election really is up in air. A number of outcomes are still possible.”

Key points:

Favourability Index

Boris Johnson remains the politician considered most favourably by voters, although his favourability rating has fallen four points since June to 37%.
For the second time in the Favourability Index, the Conservatives (29%) are considered more favourably than Labour (26%).
The Labour leadership continues to struggle – just 17% say that they are favourable towards Ed Miliband – lower than the proportion who say the same for George Osborne (21%). Ed Balls is considered favourably by just one in eight Britons (12%) – putting him in line with the Liberal Democrats (13%) and Nick Clegg (11%).

The Special Relationship

Just three in ten Britons (29%) think that the relationship between the UK and the USA should not be so close.

General Election

Although 39% of the public say that they are already bored with news about the general election, half (49%) disagree.
Two in five British adults (42%) say that they’ve never had a political party knock on their door or call their phone.
Although half of Britons (53%) say that they have definitely decided who they will vote for at the next General Election, one in three (36%) say that they might change their mind who they will vote for – including half (51%) of people who voted for the Liberal Democrats in 2010.

Next Government

A similar proportion of Britons think that the Conservatives want to dismantle the NHS if they win the next election (41%) as think a Labour government would lead to economic chaos (42%).
However, worryingly for the Labour leadership, in the wake of accusations that Ed Miliband said he wanted to “weaponise” the NHS, half of Britons (49%) think he is using the issue of the NHS for his political advantage, not because he cares about it. This includes one in five (19%) Labour voters.

Findings in detail

Favourability Index

How favourable or unfavourable are you to each of the following?

	Favourable	Unfavourable	Neither	Don’t know	NET
Boris Johnson*	37% (-4)	30%	27%	6%	+7 (-6)
The Conservative Party	29% (+4)	45%	20%	5%	-16 (+7)
David Cameron	28% (+3)	46%	21%	5%	-18 (+5)
The Green Party	28% (+1)	28%	36%	8%	0 (+2)
UKIP	26% (-1)	48%	20%	6%	-22 (-6)
The Labour Party	26% (-4)	45%	23%	6%	-19 (-6)
Nigel Farage	23% (-3)	48%	22%	6%	-25 (-7)
George Osborne	19% (-2)	45%	29%	8%	-26 (-2)
Ed Miliband	17% (-2)	51%	25%	6%	-34 (-4)
The Liberal Democrats**	13% (NC)	51%	30%	6%	-38 (+2)
Ed Balls	12% (-4)	51%	28%	8%	-39 (-7)
Nick Clegg**	11% (-1)	54%	29%	5%	-43 (NC)

Base: All GB adults (n=2,023). Figures in brackets changes from September, exception: *changes from June 2014, **changes from August 2014.

Favourability with Ed Balls has fallen four points seeing just one in eight Britons (12%) have a favourable view of the Shadow Chancellor. Just one in three Labour voters (36%) are favourable towards him.
David Cameron is considered more favourably than Boris Johnson by Conservative voters (Cameron: 77%, Johnson: 65%), but the London mayor is considered more favourably by Labour voters (Cameron: 9%, Johnson: 20%) and UKIP voters (Cameron: 20%, Johnson: 45%), showing Boris’ greater cross-party appeal.
Just 2% of UKIP voters have a favourable view of Ed Miliband. Only 3% of Conservative voters say the same.

The Special Relationship

Q: Do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements?

	Agree	Disagree	Don’t know
Britain’s relationship with the USA should not be so close	29%	52%	19%

Base: All GB adults (n=2,023).

Conservative voters (22%) are the least likely to think that Britain’s relationship with the USA should not be so close. Green voters (44%) are most likely to think so.
One in three Labour (34%), UKIP (31%) and Liberal Democrats (33%) say the same.

Date Published: 17/01/2015

Categories: Politics | Public and communities | UK

Methodology

ComRes interviewed 2,023 GB adults online between 14th and 15th January 2015. Data were weighted to be demographically representative of all GB adults. Data were also weighted by past vote recall.