More from MORI's latest poll
The full results of Ipsos MORI's latest poll are now available here. We've all seen the topline figures by now.
Approval ratings remain pretty much the same - there has been no further slump in government or Brown's ratings (in fact Brown's dire net rating of minus 45 is the best he's had for a couple of months), not any real change in Nick Clegg's rating. There is even some sympathy for Brown - asked if he is "doing a reasonable job in difficult circumstances" 51% of people agreed.
The most interesting and unusual questions in the survey were a series of open ended questions asking people to say in their own words what they liked or disliked about David Cameron and Gordon Brown. Only 45% of people could find anything at all positive to say about Brown, and the most common positive was his experience - cited by 10% of people, followed by sound judgement (5%), honesty, being a family man, being a strong leader or statesman or his personality, all named by 4% of people.
On the negative front, 79% of people found something to say. The most common criticisms were that he is untrustworthy (13%), indecisive and dithering (12%), being a poor leader (10%), doesn't keep his promises (7%), don't like his style (7%), incompetence (6%) and being out of touch (6%). 5% said they disliked everything about him.
Turning to David Cameron, 60% of people managed to think of something positive about him. These were mainly his youth and personality (both cited by 9%), being a family man, ordinary and in touch and being a good speaker (all 8%), being a modern fresh view, offering a change (7%), his image (6%) and being a good leader or a kind and caring man (both 5%).
Turning to Cameron's negatives, 57% of people found something to criticise. As with Gordon Brown, the most common criticism was that he was untrustworthy (9%), followed by his image, making promises he can't keep and his "poshness" - all mentioned by 5% of people. After that, 4% thought he was smarmy, 4% pompous and 4% indecisive.
There is nothing particularly surprising in the figures - the images are largely those we would expect (Gordon Brown is seen as an experienced, solid, decent figure... who has made a poor, indecisive leader who people don't trust and think is incompetent and out of touch. David Cameron is seen as a young, fresh, modern family man... but one who is a bit smarmy and posh) it is always valuable though to have proper open ended questions to get real views, rather than those the fit into the boxes the interviewer offers.
