Conservative party seen as divided

When I wrote about public perceptions on the issue of Europe a month ago I warned about the danger to the Conservative party of once again looking like a divided party. Following the revolt, YouGov asked whether people saw the Conservative and Labour parties as united or divided, repeating a question that YouGov had asked semi-regularly since 2003. Below are the results for the Tory party over time:

64% of people now see the Conservative party as divided, compared to just 18% who see them as united. This is the most divided the Conservative party has been seen since YouGov started asking the question, down from a peak in 2008 when 56% saw the party as united (though given we have only been asking the question since 2003, they may very well have been seen more negatively during the infighting over Maastricht in the 1990s).

Of course, we can't conclude this is necessarily down to the European rebellion, or even the issue of Europe - the Conservative party have been arguing with themselves over plenty of things. It does, however, suggest a growing perception of them as being divided, especially when compared to the perceptions of unity they recorded under David Cameron in opposition.

While we are here, here are the same figures for Labour. As you can see, while the Conservative ratings are negative, Labour's in government were even worse - at their lowest point in 2008 only 3% of people thought that Labour was united, compared to 88% who thought it was divided (though of course, this was after 11 years in power). While perceptions of whether Labour are united or divided have improved since going into opposition, they are still negative - only 25% of people see Labour as united, compared to 45% who see the party as divided.