YouGov/Sunday Times - CON 31, LAB 33, LD 7, UKIP 18, GRN 5
The weekly YouGov poll for the Sunday Times is here and has topline voting intention figures of CON 31%, LAB 33%, LDEM 7%, UKIP 18%, GRN 5% - continuing to vary around what appears to be an underlying Labour lead of a point or so.
Once again the poll included a batch of hypothetical questions with different Labour leaders, and again suggested that Alan Johnson would attract more public support than Ed Miliband. The control question asking how people would vote if the leaders remain Cameron, Miliband and Clegg shows a Conservative lead of three points. If the Labour leader was instead Alan Johnson Labour would be 2 points ahead, with Andy Burnham Labour would be one point behind, with Yvette Cooper Labour would be four points behind. Usual caveats apply - respondents don't know what policies or priorities alternative leaders would set, so questions like this measure only first impression perceptions of leaders, and take no account of what effect a party actually dumping its leader and perhaps having to have a contest would have.
Asking about Miliband himself, his ratings this week have improved since a week ago, albeit from a low base. 27% now think he's made it clear what he stands for, up from 20%. The percentage who think he is a strong leader is up 2 points... but is still only 9%. The percentage who think he is up to the job of PM is up three points, but is still only 21%. Overall 33% of people think Miliband should remain Labour leader, 43% think he should stand down, but many of these responses are from Labour's opponents. Among Labour's own voters 47% think Miliband should stay, 34% think he should be replaced.
Moving on 26% of people think that the rise of UKIP has increased the chance of Miliband & Labour winning the election, 16% that it has increased the chances of the Conservatives winning, 58% say don't know or that it has done neither. Amongst UKIP's own voters - the people the Conservatives would be seeking to reach with a "Vote UKIP get Labour" message - only 16% think their rise is helping Labour. 22% of people think that David Cameron has responded well to the rise of UKIP, 57% that he has responded badly. However they are evenly divided about what would have been a good response - 34% think Cameron would be better off adopting more of UKIP's policies and being more like them, 33% think he would be better off distancing himself more and arguing against their polices.
There remains comparatively little support for any form of UKIP-Conservative pact. Only 18% of people overall would support it, and both UKIP and Conservative supporters are opposed. If the Conservatives lose the Rochester by-election 53% of people think Cameron should retain his job, including an overwhelming 92% of Conservative voters.
