The latest Ipsos Political Pulse, conducted between 8-12 May 2026 among 2,191 British adults in conjunction with ITV/Peston, reveals a challenging landscape for the current government, with low favourability for Prime Minister Keir Starmer and a significant shift in public expectations regarding Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
Older voters are the group least supportive of New Labour, and winning them over is perhaps Tony Blair's biggest remaining political challenge. For much of the time, far more attention is paid to attracting the support of young voters, especially first-time voters, than is paid to attracting the votes of those who have retired. There is a superficial attraction to this: after all, young voters are generally less strongly attached to their party allegiances - if, indeed, they have any at all - and ought to be easier to swing. If their loyalties can be captured at a young age, perhaps they will subsequently offer their party a lifetime of voting service.
The first question that everybody was asking themselves after the general election result came through was why the turnout was so low. There has been plenty of discussion of the question since, culminating last week in the publication of the Electoral Commission's first report on the election, which among other sources draws on two MORI surveys for the Commission. [Attitudes to Voting and the Political Process]
More and more it seems that Britain's green and pleasant land is being sacrificed to 'progress'. Here, Sir Robert Worcester tells of his hatred of the electricity pylons that scar our landscape.
The "gender gap" - the consistent tendency in British general elections for women to be more supportive of the Conservatives than men, and less supportive of Labour - almost disappeared in this year's general election.
Michael Portillo's exclusion from the Tory leadership race may have taken both his colleagues and the media by surprise, but it was following the trend of public opinion over the last few weeks which has seen him lose much ground.
A brief word on the importance of the low turnout and its effect on the polls. MORI's final poll projection for The Times was Conservative 30%, Labour 45%, Liberal Democrat 18%; the "poll of polls" (average of all the companies' polls conducted during the final week) was Conservative 31%, Labour 45% and Liberal Democrats 18%. Both close to the final result (32.7%:42.0%:18.8%), and within the standard 3% margin of error for all parties - though, naturally, we would like it to be even closer.
