YouGov/Sunday Times - CON 35, LAB 39, LD 10, UKIP 10

Anthony Wells

— 2 min read
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The weekly YouGov poll for the Sunday Times is up here. Topline voting intentions are CON 35%, LAB 39%, LDEM 10%, UKIP 10% - a four point Labour lead.

On the regular leader questions both Cameron and Miliband are doing comparatively well - 41% think David Cameron is doing well as PM, 52% badly, a net figure of minus 11. This equals his best leader rating since the omnishambles budget in 2012 (the only other time he's got this high was just after the Tory conference last year). Ed Miliband's net score is minus 28, also up on recent weeks and his best score since last November.

The rest of the poll was a grab bag of various issues:

  • On education only 20% of people think Michael Gove is doing well in his job, 57% think he's doing badly. Asked about his attitude towards the educational establishment and trade unions only 19% think that he's right to take a confrontational stance, 46% think the government would be better off listening more to their concerns.
  • A large majority (72%) of people think it is unacceptable for political parties to appoint their own supporters to such roles, but people see the last Labour government as just as guilty of this as the current government - 19% think Labour did it more, 17% think the Coalition have done it more, 48% think they've been as bad as each other.
  • 25% of people say they support the underground strike, 40% are opposed, 35% say neither or don't know. Amongst respondents in London views are not really any more polarised - 28% support the strike, 43% are opposed. Blame for the dispute is almost evenly divided between Transport for London and the RMT.
  • 25% of people think David Cameron has responded well to the floods, 62% badly. Attitudes to spending on flood defences appear to have do shifted substantially – a week ago people were pretty evenly divided over whether the government should spend more or not. Following another week of flooding news, people are now 49% to 26% in favour of more spending.
  • The idea of a 5p charge on plastic bags in supermarkets and stores is widely supported, with 65% in favour, 27% opposed.

Also in today's Sunday Times is a new Panelbase Scottish poll. Given the narrowing in TNS-BMRB and ICM polls lately I was intrigued as to what the next Panelbase poll would show - for reasons that remain unclear Panelbase tend to show a closer race than other companies. In the event their poll actually shows the gap widening slightly (albeit, nothing that couldn't be normal sample variation) - YES stands at 37% (down 1), NO at 49% (up 2).

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