Survation and SkyData polls on the Independent Group

Anthony Wells

— 1 min read
Share

Today we've had the first two polls asking people about whether they'd support The Independent Group were they to stand candidates.

Survation in the Daily Mail asked how people would vote if there was "a new centrist party opposed to Brexit", producing voting intention figures of CON 39%, LAB 34%, LDEM 6%, "New centrist party" 8%, UKIP 5%. In comparison, the normal voting intention figures in the poll were CON 40%, LAB 36%, LDEM 10%, UKIP 5%, suggesting the new party could take support from both Labour and Conservative, though it would largely take votes from the Liberal Democrats. Tables are here.

SkyData, who do not typically publish voting intention figures, asked how people would vote if the "new Independent Group of former Labour MPs" were standing, and found voting intention figures of CON 32%, LAB 26%, TIG 10%, LDEM 9%, UKIP 6%. We don't have standard voting intention figures to compare here, but on the face of it, it also looks as if support is coming from both Labour and Conservative, though the level of Lib Dem support appears to be holding up better than in the Survation poll. Note that the lower figures overall appear to be because of an unusually high figure for "others" (possibly because SkyData do not offer respondents the ability to answer don't know). Tables are here.

These polls are, of course, still rather hypothetical. "The Independent Group" is not a political party yet (assuming, that it ever becomes one). It doesn't formally have a leader yet, or any policies. We don't yet know how it will co-exist with the Liberal Democrats. As of Tuesday night it only has former Labour MPs, though the rumourmill expects some Conservative MPs to join sooner rather than later.

Nevertheless, it is more "real" than the typical hypothetical polls asking about imaginary centrist parties. Respondents do at least have some names, faces and context to base it upon, and it gives us a baseline of support. We won't really know for sure until (and unless) the Independent Group transform into a proper party and is just another option in standard voting intention polls.

Read more