YouGov/Sunday Times - CON 36, LAB 37, LD 9, UKIP 11
The full details of YouGov's weekly Sunday Times poll are now up online here. Topline voting intention figures are CON 36%, LAB 37%, LDEM 9%, UKIP 11%.
That means two polls today, from YouGov and Survation, both show a reduced Labour lead of just one point. As ever when you get a couple of polls indicating a shift straight after an event it's tempting to conclude the event has had a big impact. Be a bit cautious - the YouGov and Populus polls conducted Wednesday night and Thursday morning didn't show a narrowing, it's these two polls conducted from Thursday to Friday that show narrower leads. They aren't necessarily contradictory (many people in those initial polls wouldn't have seen the details of the budget or the media reaction yet), but it means the evidence isn't all one way. Wait a bit to see if this pattern continues into the week.
The details of the YouGov poll don't add much to the YouGov post-budget poll for the Sun. Confidence in the government's handling of the economy and George Osborne's ability is creeping upwards, but people themselves still aren't feeling the improvement. 42% of people think the government is handling the economy well (the second highest score since 2010), 41% of people think George Osborne is doing well as Chancellor (up from 26% last April). But only 19% of people expect their own finances to get better over the next year, 38% worse. While this is one of the least negative scores since the general election it is still very negative!
The YouGov poll also asked again about Ukraine, continuing to find little support for any intervention beyond economic sanctions, though 44% would support personal asset freezing and travel restrictions against Vladimir Putin himself.
Looking at some other polling today, the Survation/Mail on Sunday poll also included European voting intention, which now stands at CON 28%(+5), LAB 32%(nc), LDEM 7%(-2), UKIP 23%(-3), GRN 3%. European election polls so far are here.
There was also a new ICM Scottish poll in the Scotland on Sunday. They have topline figures of YES 39%, NO 46%. Without don't knows it would be YES 45%, NO 55% - a 2 point increase in YES compared to ICM's February poll, but less than the 46% in their January poll. John Curtice's take on the new ICM poll is here and referendum polls so far are listed here.
