Saturday, October 02, 2010
Voters call for Red Ed to set out his alternative
The Independent reports on the outcome of a ComRes Survey which shows that the overwhelming majority of voters believe that Ed Miliband, the new Labour leader, should be more explicit over where he would cut public spending.
Although I do not take any notice of single opinion polls, especially this far out from an election, in this case the snapshot that this poll provides is worth recording because it sets out the starting point for the Miliband leadership, and the task ahead of him.
It shows that Ed has failed to achieve the opinion poll bounce often enjoyed by parties after their annual conference, with the Tories slightly increasing their lead over Labour and underlines the obstacles he has to overcome to project a voter-friendly image. Only one-quarter of people regard him as a good choice as leader and one-third believe he would be too heavily influenced by the trade unions:
But there are also opportunities for the Miliband team, with large numbers of voters yet to make up their mind about his merits.
One of the earliest challenges for his leadership is to respond to the spending cuts due to be announced by George Osborne in 18 days' time. The early signs are that Mr Miliband might not produce a detailed alternative to the Chancellor's plans beyond arguing that the Coalition is cutting too heavily and too early.
However, the danger of taking too vague an approach was underlined in the ComRes poll, with 82 per cent agreeing that Labour needed to spell out more clearly where it would cut spending to tackle the national deficit, with only 5 per cent disagreeing.
The public gives a guarded approval to the Coalition Government's strategy of starting to cut spending this year rather than waiting until 2011-12. More than half (57 per cent) believe David Cameron and Nick Clegg have adopted the right approach, with 26 per cent taking the opposite view.
However, the public also sounds a note of caution, with 45 per cent saying the Government is risking the economic recovery by cutting "too far, too fast".
The poll reports that enthusiasm for Mr Miliband is even muted among Labour supporters, with only 50 per cent regarding him as a good choice to take over.
These things are only ephemeral of course. There is a great deal of work still to be done by both the Coalition Government and the new Labour Leader to sell their positions to the public in the months ahead.
In my view, we will not have any clear view of public reaction until some time after the Comprehensive Spending Review, when all the speculation has been overtaken by hard facts and the public have had a chance to digest the Government's actual plans.
Although I do not take any notice of single opinion polls, especially this far out from an election, in this case the snapshot that this poll provides is worth recording because it sets out the starting point for the Miliband leadership, and the task ahead of him.
It shows that Ed has failed to achieve the opinion poll bounce often enjoyed by parties after their annual conference, with the Tories slightly increasing their lead over Labour and underlines the obstacles he has to overcome to project a voter-friendly image. Only one-quarter of people regard him as a good choice as leader and one-third believe he would be too heavily influenced by the trade unions:
But there are also opportunities for the Miliband team, with large numbers of voters yet to make up their mind about his merits.
One of the earliest challenges for his leadership is to respond to the spending cuts due to be announced by George Osborne in 18 days' time. The early signs are that Mr Miliband might not produce a detailed alternative to the Chancellor's plans beyond arguing that the Coalition is cutting too heavily and too early.
However, the danger of taking too vague an approach was underlined in the ComRes poll, with 82 per cent agreeing that Labour needed to spell out more clearly where it would cut spending to tackle the national deficit, with only 5 per cent disagreeing.
The public gives a guarded approval to the Coalition Government's strategy of starting to cut spending this year rather than waiting until 2011-12. More than half (57 per cent) believe David Cameron and Nick Clegg have adopted the right approach, with 26 per cent taking the opposite view.
However, the public also sounds a note of caution, with 45 per cent saying the Government is risking the economic recovery by cutting "too far, too fast".
The poll reports that enthusiasm for Mr Miliband is even muted among Labour supporters, with only 50 per cent regarding him as a good choice to take over.
These things are only ephemeral of course. There is a great deal of work still to be done by both the Coalition Government and the new Labour Leader to sell their positions to the public in the months ahead.
In my view, we will not have any clear view of public reaction until some time after the Comprehensive Spending Review, when all the speculation has been overtaken by hard facts and the public have had a chance to digest the Government's actual plans.
Comments:
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It goes to show how stupid such polls are.
"large numbers of voters yet to make up their mind about his merits."
Given that he's been there less than a week, this can hardly be surprising
"82 per cent agreeing that Labour needed to spell out more clearly where it would cut spending to tackle the national deficit, "
Voters say this but in truth they don't want to hear bad news. Complete nonsense.
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"large numbers of voters yet to make up their mind about his merits."
Given that he's been there less than a week, this can hardly be surprising
"82 per cent agreeing that Labour needed to spell out more clearly where it would cut spending to tackle the national deficit, "
Voters say this but in truth they don't want to hear bad news. Complete nonsense.
# posted by 
: 3:45 PM
: 3:45 PM<< Home
