YouGov's budget polling

Full tables for YouGov's post-budget poll are now available here. The overall position is a small thumbs up, but not one that had made any real difference to the bigger picture.

Overall 44% of people thought the budget was a fair one, with 31% thinking it unfair. This is less positive than the emergency budget back in June 2010 (which 50% saw as fair). George Osborne's approval rating as Chancellor is up - 34% now think he is doing a good job, 40% a bad job (compared to 27% good, 46% bad before the budget).

On the specific measures in the budget, 81% supported the 1p cut in fuel tax, 78% the increase in the personal tax allowance, 71% the fuel stabilizer and 63% retaining the 50p as a temporary measure. Least popular were the 10% reduction in inheritance tax for those leaving 10% to charity (supported by 51%) and the announcement that future rises in the state pension age should be linked to rises in life expectancy (supported by 47%).

However, a budget is more than just the sum of its parts, and in the past we've seen budgets where people supported all the individual announcements contained within it, but where it still had negative impacts for the government. A better guide may be whether it has actually shifted perceptions of the government's economic policy.

All the regular YouGov trackers have moved in the direction of the government, but by relatively small amounts. The proportion of people thinking the cuts are good for government is up 4, thinking it is fair is up 5, necessary is up 4. The proportion of people thinking the cuts are too deep is down 5, too fast is down 4.

The changes are positive for the government... but aren't enough to change the bigger picture. Overall the majority of people still think the cuts are unfair (56%), and being done too fast (53%). 46% of people think they are bad for the economy. On the scale of the cuts, 44% think they are too deep, 39% that they are about right or too shallow.

However, 59% still think they are necessary, and people are still more likely to blame Labour than the coalition for the cuts. Asked who they most trust to make the right decisions about dealing with the deficit, the coalition continues to lead Labour by 38% to 24%.

The contrast between this last figure and voting intention is itself interesting - the overwhelming majority (92%) of Conservative voters trust the coalition to make the right decisions on the deficit. However, amongst Labour voters only 69% say they trust Labour to make the right decisions on the deficit,

with 21% saying they trust neither.