YouGov polling on Thatcher
This morning's Sun has YouGov's first polling on perceptions of Thatcher since her death - full results are here. The majority of people think Thatcher was a great or good Prime Minister (indeed, 28% see her as the greatest of Britain's post war Prime Ministers), but a significant minority also have strongly negative views: very few people see her as average, they were either for or against.
Overall 25% said Thatcher was a great Prime Minister, 27% good, compared to 23% who said she was terrible and 7% poor. Just 10% said average. Her ratings were not vastly different across the social spectrum, both men and women rated her highly, and while younger people born after she left office are less likely to have an opinion, those that did were still more positive than negative. Opinion gradually becomes less positive as you go northwards, but not drastically so - even in the North 49% have a positive opinion of Thatcher, 35% negative. Only in Scotland is the balance of opinion negative.
People's views of Thatcher herself are very much in line with the media image of the "Iron Lady". Asked what qualities she had 72% said she stuck to what she believed in, 66% thought she was strong, 59% decisive, 42% good in a crisis, 41% a natural leader. The lowest figure was being in touch with the concerns of ordinary people, something which only 11% of people now think that Thatcher was.
Her legacy for Britain is seen as more mixed. 47% think her period as Prime Minister was good for Britain, 36% bad for Britain. On balance people think her premiership left Britain economically better off, and 60% think she left the country more respected in the world. 51% think she left behind a country where there were more opportunities for women. By 36% to 31% people also think she left Britain a freer country. However 49% think she also left a less equal society behind her.
Asked about what they see as her successes and failures, Thatcher's greatest achievement is the least political - 44% picked being the country's first female Prime Minister. This was followed by winning the Falklands War (33%) and defeating the Miners' strike and taming the Trade Unions (27%).
Her biggest failure was seen as the one that finally brought her down - 44% named the poll tax. This was followed by overseeing the decline of mining and manufacturing (37%) and the privatisation of utilities like British Telecom and British Gas (31%). The right to buy was picked by a significant number of people on both lists - 21% thought the introducion of the right to buy and the growth in home ownership was one of Thatcher's greatest achievements, 22% thought selling off council housing through the right to buy was one of her worst failures.
Meanwhile the YouGov voting intention this morning was CON 33%, LAB 41%, LDEM 10%, UKIP 10%. Right at the lowest end of Labour leads by YouGov's recent polling, but usual caveats apply (it could be the impact of the Thatcher coverage, but could equally well be normal sample variation). In contrast the latest TNS-BMRB poll, conducted over the weekend, had figures of CON 25%(-2), LAB 40%(+3), LD 10%(nc), UKIP 14%(-3).
