ComRes/Mail/ITV - CON 36, LAB 32, LD 9, UKIP 12, GRN 5

The YouGov/Sunday Times poll this morning showed a four point Labour lead, interpreted in some quarters of the commentariat as showing an advance for Labour after the Paxman interviews. As ever, it was only one poll. Now we have a second post-Paxman poll, a ComRes telephone poll for the Daily Mail & ITV, and this one shows the complete opposite - CON 36%(+1), LAB 32%(-3), LDEM 9%(+1), UKIP 12%(+2), GRN 5%(-2) (tabs).

If the four point Labour lead in this morning's YouGov poll equalled their best this year, this poll is the biggest Conservative lead ComRes have delivered since 2010. Where YouGov showed Miliband's ratings improving, ComRes show Cameron widening his lead as best Prime Minister.

There is no great mystery here, I expect we're just seeing normal sample variation. I said this morning we needed to wait for some more polling to have any idea whether the Paxman interviews had really had any effect, whether there was a consistent trend. With two polls now showing movement in opposition directions there certainly isn't yet. It could still be that the rest of the week's polls show a similar movement to YouGov and the ComRes poll was just a blip... or that the rest of the week's polls show a similar movement to ComRes and the YouGov poll was a blip. I've a sneaky suspicion though that we've just happened to see two outliers in opposite directions, and we're going to see lots of polls showing no clear movement. Time will tell.

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