New Populus poll shows 3 point Labour lead

After a long break the regular Populus polls for the Times start up again in tomorrow's paper - the topline figures with changes from October are CON 36%(-2), LAB 39%(+1), LDEM 11%(-4). This three point lead is actually the lowest any of the regular pollsters are currently showing, but I expect we'll find that's because like ICM, Populus re-allocate don't knows to the parties they voted for last time and these days that works against Labour.

The poll also asked people which they would prefer between the government's strategy of eliminating the deficit in four years, or Labour's policy of halving the deficit in four years (although notably the question itself did NOT indicate to people that these were government and Labour policies) - people were pretty evenly split, with 46% prefering the government's policy and 54% the opposition's (I'm not sure if they add to 100% because it was a forced choice or because it's been repercentaged to exclude don't knows).

The Times report suggests there were also a series of questions rating the performance of cabinet ministers, but the details don't seem to be online yet.

UPDATE: The daily YouGov/Sun poll is also out, and has topline figures of CON 37%, LAB 43%, LD 9%.

UPDATE2: The 3 point Labour lead was indeed partially due to reallocating don't knows. Without the reallocation the figures were CON 35%, LAB 40%, LDEM 10%. After many years of the adjustment helping Labour in the polls it looks as though the days of shy Tories are gradually reappearing.