According to our poll conducted for The Sun last weekend [Attitudes Towards Sleaze], a quarter of the public now think that the present government is "more sleazy" than the Conservative government under John Major which preceded it; only 14% think the Major government was more sleazy. This is a question we have asked several times over the years [Sleaze Trend], but this is the first time that those who think the Blair government is the sleazier have outnumbered those who think the Major government is worse.
At the 2005 election, probably for the first time ever in a British general election, more women than men voted Labour [Who Voted Which Way — In Detail]. Since David Cameron's election as Conservative leader, many of his initiatives have seemed clearly aimed at re-establishing the Conservatives' traditional strength among women. How is he doing?
Ipsos's first Political Monitor of 2007 shows the Conservatives leading Labour by 4 points (39% vs 35%), based on those who say they are "absolutely certain" (50% of the total sample of 1,955 British adults, 18+) to vote in an immediate general election. This puts the Tory share now higher than it was during most of the Autumn, and represents a swing of 3.5% from Labour since the 2005 general election.
MORI's final poll of the 2005 election campaign, published in the London Evening Standard on election day, predicted the Conservative and Liberal Democrat shares of the vote spot-on, and missed Labour by two percentage points - an average error of 0.67 points on the three major parties, well within the normally accepted margins of error.
Are you happy? Nearly nine people in ten say they are. In the immediate run up to Christmas 86% of the 967 people phoned told Ipsos interviewers that they were either "very" (38%) or "fairly" (48%) happy with their life at present, while just 7% admitted to woe.
The public's detailed image of the Prime Minister has deteriorated significantly in the last 18 months, analysis of data from the Ipsos Political Monitor shows; but while Gordon Brown's image is better, it shares many of the most negative characteristics of Mr Blair's. The poll, conducted at the start of September (before the recent public falling out over the Prime Minister's retirement date) finds that Mr Brown, like Mr Blair, is primarily seen as out of touch, though the public also admit that he has sound judgment, a description they are reluctant to apply to Tony Blair, and many more people describe him as inflexible, tending to talk down to people and narrow minded than have the same impression of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat leaders.
