Latest Populus and Ashcroft polls
Just a quick post on Monday's regular polls from Lord Ashcroft and Populus. The twice-weekly online poll from Populus has topline figures of CON 32%, LAB 37%, LDEM 9%, UKIP 13%, GRN 3%. Tabs here.
Lord Ashcroft's weekly telephone poll has topline figures of CON 28%(-1), LAB 33%(-2), LDEM 9%(+1), UKIP 17%(+2), GRN 7% (tabs here).
In my post yesterday I touched on issues of party image - of how the Conservatives lead on competence, but Labour are more likely to be seen as having it's heart in the right place. Today's Ashcroft poll has a much bigger section on party image but you can see the same pattern. The Conservative party are more likely to be seen as being "competent and capable", "having clear ideas to deal with Britain's problems" and being "willing to take tough decisions for the long term". However Labour lead on perceptions that are more about values - so they are ahead on "shares my values", "on the side of people like me" and have big leads on having its "heart in the right place" and "stands for fairness".
As a general view, I'd say that gap there is what prevents the Conservatives doing much better. The Tories have a leader who rates far more positively than the opposition leader; they now have a consistent lead on the economy, the big issue facing the country. The thing that holds them back is that people do still see them as a party of the rich (and a party of the white) and don't trust their motives, whereas whatever Labour's other failings are (and they have their own image problems), the public do at least still see them as having their heart in the right place and caring about fairness.
