Brown v Cameron - exclusive poll puts Labour 13 points adrift

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Brown v Cameron - exclusive poll puts Labour 13 points adrift
Gordon Brown is failing to persuade the public that he would make a better prime minister than David Cameron, according to a Guardian/ICM poll published today which suggests the Conservatives could win a working majority at the next general election.

Voters give the Tories a clear 13-point lead when asked which party they would back in a likely contest between Mr Brown, Mr Cameron and Sir Menzies Campbell.

The result would give the party 42% of the vote against Labour on 29%, similar to its performance under Michael Foot in 1983. The Liberal Democrats would drop to 17%. The result is the highest that the Conservatives have scored in any ICM poll since July 1992, just after their last general election victory.

The question, which names all three major party leaders, asks voters to think about politics in a different way from the standard ICM question about voting intentions, which only names parties. As such, it is a greater test of the personality of each party leader, or potential leader.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,,2016791,00.html