More from the YouGov/Sunday Times poll
The full tables for the YouGov/Sunday Times poll are up here. On the regular trackers, Cameron's rating continues to trend very slowly upwards, Miliband's slowly downwards, as the hackgate effect fades. Economic optimism remains dire. Only 3% of people think the economy is in a good state, 79% in a bad state (typical of the last few months). Only 9% of people expect their household's financial situation to improve in the next twelve months, 58% expect it to get worse (a "feel good factor" of minus 49, again typical of the last few months).
YouGov asked if people thought the public or private sector were suffering more in the economic downturn - respondents were slightly more likely to think that public sector workers have suffered more than private sector workers (by 27% to 17%), but 49% of people think both groups have fared much the same. On public sector pensions 44% think the government's changes are right (marginally down from when the question was last asked), 39% wrong, 49% of people oppose public sector strike action over pensions, with 38% of people in support (pretty much unchanged).
On the Liberal Democrats and the coalition, almost half (48%) of people think that entering the coalition was the wrong decision, a proportion mirrored amongst those who voted Lib Dem at the last election (although amongst the remaining Lib Dem supporters 71% think it was the right thing to do). There is a similar split in opinion on whether they should stay in the coalition now - 36% think they should stay (including 78% of their remaining supporters), 45% think they should leave.
Despite Nick Clegg's low approval ratings, 41% think he should stay as Lib Dem leader compared to 32% who would like him to stand down. A majority (63%) of people did not know who would make the best replacement leader for Clegg (unsurprisingly given the relative low profile of third party politicians - Vince Cable was the top choice, but with only 16%, and this was probably because he was the least anonymous).
On the question of how much influence the Liberal Democrats have within government, most Conservative and Liberal Democrat supporters think they have a little influence, with Conservatives thinking that is about right or too much, and most Liberal Democrats thinking the party should wield greater influence. Labour supporters tend to see the Lib Dems as not having much influence in government. Overall they are seen as somewhat more influential than they were when we asked the same question in May - back then only 8% thought they had a lot of influence, that has now risen to 15%.
46% of people see the Conservatives as having benefitted the most from the coalition, compared to just 19% who see the Liberal Democrats as the main beneficiaries. Looking to the future, 36% of people think that the Liberal Democrats have permanently damaged their party by entering the coalition, 23% think they will recover in time, 21% think they will eventually benefit from having been in government.
On a seperate subject, Labour are seen as the party that best understands and reflects the concerns of women, by 25% to the Conservatives' 11%. However, 31% of people said no party reflects the views of women. Asked about the leaders, there is very little to choose - Miliband leads Cameron by only 16% to 13%, with 35% saying none of the party leaders understand or reflect the views of women (amongst women respondents, this rise to 43%). Labour are in a better position when people are asked about whether women are well represented in senior roles in each party. 47% of people think women are very or fairly well represented at the top of the Labour party, compared to 33% who think the same about the Tories.
