Conservative Voters Overwhelmingly Support Security State Expansion

Despite the best wishes of some on the libertarian wing of the parliamentary Conservative Party, the party's core voters are overwhelmingly supportive of authoritarian measures to enhance security powers. Even ID cards, much maligned by Tory leaders past, experience far higher levels of support amongst Conservative voters than the general public - and even Labour voters.

65% of Conservative voters support mandatory ID cards, with with 25% opposed - leaving net support of +40 compared to -6 for the Labour Party. Conservative voters support almost all measures prompted for, including expansions of CCTV and even a database of the DNA records of British citizens. David Davis might want to think about crossing the floor...

There is some cause for optimism amongst lovers of civil liberties. Labour voters do, by a small margin, oppose ID cards, fingerprint and DNA records. Meanwhile, the public as a whole has become less inclined to support security measures than when last asked by YouGov seven years ago.