Attitudes Towards Leaders And Parties

The latest monthly Ipsos poll for The Sun examined public attitudes to the main two party leaders plus Gordon Brown and how these relate to attitudes towards the Labour and Conservative parties.

The public were asked to select whether they like or dislike each politician and / or their respective party. This type of question allows us to provide a "likeability" rating for David Cameron, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, as well as to see how these relate to the "likeability" of the Conservative and Labour parties. The key findings are:

1. All three leading politicians have a negative "likeability" rating, with Tony Blair on the lowest rating of -21 (34% like him and 55% dislike him). The ratings for David Cameron at -8 (36% like him and 44% dislike him) and Gordon Brown at -13 (36% like him and 49% dislike him) are fairly similar.
2. Despite his overall negative rating, the image of the Conservative leader is more favourable than that of Michael Howard at the last General Election where his "likeability" rating was -17. (Although it should be noted that these trends are not directly comparable given changes to the question wording — see Financial Times Election Research — Poll 3). And confirming the fall in public approval ratings for the Prime Minister since the last election (Ipsos's regular tracking Satisfaction Ratings 1979-Present), Tony Blair's "likeability" rating has fallen from -3 since April 2005.
3. The perceptions of the two main parties, however, are very different. Among the general public, 29% say they like the Conservative Party and 51% say they dislike it — giving it a "likeability" rating of -22. In other words, the Conservative Party is much more disliked than its leader. The reverse is true for the government — the Labour Party is much more liked than Tony Blair, as Labour's rating under Tony Blair rating is -9 (40% like and 49% dislike), which is incidentally the same rating the party receives when asked in relation to Gordon Brown.
4. More detailed analysis of the findings also confirms the importance of a party's image in determining how people will vote. Among those who would vote Conservative at an immediate General Election, a quarter say they "do not like David Cameron but do like the Conservative Party". Just one in eleven (9%) say the opposite is true — "they like David Cameron but do not like the Conservative Party". The pattern is similar for Labour with fives times as many current Labour supporters saying they "do not like Gordon Brown but do like the Labour Party" (25%) than say "they like Gordon Brown but do not like the Labour Party" (5%).

Topline Results

• Ipsos interviewed a representative quota sample of 973 adults in Great Britain aged 18+.
• Interviews were conducted by telephone between 12-14 January 2007.
• Data are weighted to match the profile of the population.
• Full data tabulations (weighted and unweighted) are available upon request.

Q1 Which of these statements come closest to your views of David Cameron and the Conservative Party?

Q2 Which of these statements come closest to your views of Gordon Brown and the Labour Party?

Q3 Which of these statements come closest to your views of Tony Blair and the Labour Party?