Labour gaining on Tories, poll shows

[IndianaGreen]

Source: The Guardian

Labour gaining on Tories, poll shows

Matthew Taylor
The Guardian, Tuesday December 9 2008

Labour has closed the gap on the Conservatives and cemented its position as the party most trusted to deal with the recession, according to a poll published today.

Voters prefer Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling over David Cameron and George Osborne by 40% to 31%, with a six-point jump in their lead since the pre-budget report on November 24.

The Populus poll for the Times also showed an improvement in Labour's overall standing with the Conservative lead narrowing to 4% - its lowest in a Populus poll since March. It also recorded a marked drop in Labour voters considering switching to the Tories.

According to the poll the Conservatives are on 39%, down 2%, Labour on 35%, unchanged from November, and the Liberal Democrats on 17%, up one.

Last week an ICM poll for the Guardian had the Tories extending their lead over Labour to 15 points and led to speculation that Brown's handling of the economic crisis was not going down well with voters. ICM found that while people picked Labour over the Conservatives as the best party to manage the economy, the Tories were still in an election-winning position, with strong opposition to more borrowing and tax rises. Based on last week's ICM figures the Conservatives could expect to win around 380 seats, enough for a comfortable majority. Labour would win about 210 seats, 140 fewer than it holds today.


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/dec/09/labour-conservatives-polls

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Gordon Brown lacks the charisma of a David Cameron. I don't see Labour winning, despite this poll.