Conservatives competent, Labour compassionate, Liberal Democrats divided
The Conservative Party is seen as most competent of the three parties; Labour seen as most compassionate; while the Liberal Democrats are seen as divided, and least likely to keep its promises.
Conservatives competent, Labour compassionate, Liberal Democrats divided
The Conservative Party is seen as most competent of the three parties – it is seen as most fit to govern and as having the best team of leaders
Labour seen as most compassionate - leads on looking after the interests of ‘people like me’
The Liberal Democrat Party is seen as divided, and least likely to keep its promises. Only a quarter think the Lib Dems are fit to govern
Newly released data from the Reuters/Ipsos Political Monitor shows that the Conservative party is seen as most fit to govern (50%), compared to 38% who say Labour and 23% who say the Liberal Democrats. The Conservative party is also seen as having a better team of leaders (44%) than Labour (34%) or the Liberal Democrats (30%).However, almost three in ten people think that David Cameron’s party is extreme; more than think the same of the other two parties (28%, compared to 22% who say Labour and 16% the Liberal Democrats).
The Labour party is seen as most likely to look after the interests of people like me (41%), compared to three in ten who say the same of the other parties (32% for both). While Labour trails the Conservative party on being fit to govern and party leadership, the public thinks the Labour party understands the problems facing Britain just as well as the Conservatives do (both 50%).
The Liberal Democrats are seen as most divided (65%) and least likely to keep their promises (16%). Only a quarter of the public thinks that the Coalition party is fit to govern (23%).
Conservative and Liberal Democrat supporters have mixed views of their Coalition partners. Three in five Liberal Democrats think that the Conservatives are fit to govern (58%) but only one in five (21%) of Conservative voters say the same of the Liberal Democrats. Three in ten Liberal Democrats say that the Conservative party is extreme (29%), and they are more likely to say that Labour looks after the interests of people like me than say that the Conservatives do (35% compared to 27%).
For both, only one in five thinks that the other party keeps its promises (22% of Liberal Democrats say that the Conservatives do; 19% of Tories say the Lib Dems do). However, both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are more likely to say that their Coalition partners understand the problems facing Britain than say that Labour does.
The public remains sceptical about the integrity of all three parties. All are seen as promising anything to win votes and few people believe that they keep their promises. For each party, almost two-thirds of the public say that they will promise anything to win votes. Only a quarter think the Conservatives or Labour keep their promises. Even fewer think the Lib Dems do so (16%). Liberal Democrat supporters are the least likely to say that their party keeps its promises (34%, compared to 46% of Labour supporters who think that Labour keeps its promises, and 53% of Conservatives who say the same of their party).
Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,008 adults aged 18+ across Great Britain. Interviews were conducted by telephone 10-12 September 2011. Data are weighted to match the profile of the population.
Ipsos will be releasing new polling data at the Reuters/ Ipsos Party Conferences 2011 fringe events: “Beyond the Bubble: the voters’ verdict”, exploring what the public really thinks about the parties and their leaders. Speakers include David Davis MP, Hilary Benn MP, Chuka Umunna MP, Simon Hughes MP, Lord Rennard and Isabel Oakeshott from The Sunday Times.
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