Coalition Preferences in Event of a Hung Parliament

Who the British public preferred the third party to put into government if there was no overall majority at various general elections since 1979

17 January 2014

Polls from: 1978-9 | 1986-7 | 1992 | 2010 | 2014 See also Attitudes towards a hung Parliament

1978-9

Q If no one party has an overall majority, do you think that the Liberals should support a Conservative government, a Labour government, or should they support neither major party?

	11 September 1978
	%
Conservative	13
Labour	18
Neither	54
Don't know	14

Base: c. 1,200 GB adults aged 18+

1986-7

Q If the next general election produces a stalemate with no party able to form a government on its own, would you prefer the Liberal/SDP Alliance to allow the Labour Party or the Conservative Party to lead the new government?

	June 1986	15-18 August 1986	17-21 October 1986	9-13 December 1986	20-25 February 1987	24-28 April 1987
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Conservative	34	36	37	39	41	45
Labour	37	35	34	35	34	30
Neither	13	14	12	11	11	11
Don't know	16	15	17	14	14	13

Base: c. 1,750 GB adults aged 18+

Q If neither the Conservatives nor Labour win an overall majority in the House of Commons at the General Election, which of these options would you prefer?

	27-28 May 1987
	%
Conservative/Alliance government	32
Labour/Alliance government	24
A quick election to decide who should form a government	38
Other	1
No opinion	4

Base: 1,188 GB adults aged 18+

1992

Q If neither the Conservatives nor Labour win an overall majority in the House of Commons at the General Election, which of these options would you prefer?

	25-27 March 1992
	%
Conservative/Liberal Democrat government	30
Labour/Liberal Democrat government	31
A quick election to decide who should form a government	36
Other	1
No opinion	2

Base: 1,292 GB adults aged 18+

Q In the event of a hung Parliament, where no party has an overall majority, which of these alternatives would you prefer to see the Liberal Democrat MPs do?

	7-8 April 1992
	%
Vote with the Conservative Party to keep them in government	36
Vote with the Labour Party to put them into government	38
Abstain from voting	18
No opinion/don't know	8

Base: 1,731 GB adults aged 18+

Q In principle, would you prefer a minority government in which no single party has a majority of seats in the House of Commons, even if this means an early General Election, or would you prefer to see a coalition government?

	7-8 April 1992
	%
Minority government	39
Coalition government	45
Don't know	15

Base: 1,731GB adults aged 18+

2010 - national poll

Q If no party achieves an overall majority, which of these would you prefer?

	5 May 2010
	%
The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats working together	27
Labour and the Liberal Democrats working together	29
The Conservatives and Labour working together	4
All three main parties working together	33
None of these	4
Other	*
Don't know	4

Base: c. 1,200 GB adults aged 18+

2010 - poll in marginal constituencies

Q If no party achieves an overall majority, which of these would you prefer?

	30 April- 2 May 2010
	%
The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats working together	26
Labour and the Liberal Democrats working together	27
The Conservatives and Labour working together	5
All three main parties working together	31
None of these	8
Other	1
Don't know	2

Base: c. 1,000 adults aged 18+ in Labour-held constituencies vulnerable to the Conservatives on a 5%-9% swing

2014

Q You said that you would [vote for/be inclined to support] [the Conservatives/Labour/Liberal Democrats/UKIP] if there were a general election tomorrow. Suppose that no party has an overall majority after the election. How strongly would you support or oppose [the Conservatives/Labour/Liberal Democrats/UKIP] forming a coalition government with [INSERT] if they had enough seats between them for a majority?

Conservative supporters Base: 261 GB Conservative supporters aged 18+

	11-14 January 2014
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	+/-
	Strongly support	Tend to support	Neither /nor	Tend to oppose	Strongly oppose	Don't know	Support	Oppose	Net Support
UKIP	17	23	12	17	27	4	40	44	-4
Liberal Democrats	21	49	11	11	6	1	70	17	+53

Labour supporters Base: 326 GB Labour supporters aged 18+

	11-14 January 2014
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	+/-
	Strongly support	Tend to support	Neither /nor	Tend to oppose	Strongly oppose	Don't know	Support	Oppose	Net Support
Liberal Democrats	24	38	14	10	11	4	62	21	+41
Green Party	31	32	15	10	7	4	63	17	+46

Liberal Democrat supporters Base: 102 GB Liberal Democrat supporters aged 18+ (due to small base size please treat with caution)

	11-14 January 2014
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	+/-
	Strongly support	Tend to support	Neither /nor	Tend to oppose	Strongly oppose	Don't know	Support	Oppose	Net Support
Conservative Party	28	37	13	7	14	*	65	21	+44
Labour Party	25	28	12	17	18	0	53	35	+18

UKIP supporters Base: 90 GB UKIP supporters aged 18+ (due to small base size please treat with caution)

	11-14 January 2014
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	+/-
	Strongly support	Tend to support	Neither /nor	Tend to oppose	Strongly oppose	Don't know	Support	Oppose	Net Support
Conservative Party	28	36	5	5	24	2	64	29	+35
Labour Party	20	27	8	13	32	0	47	45	+2

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