Monday, June 18, 2007

Voters see Cameron as a lightweight and Tory party as very right wing

A YouGov survey for Channel Four News shows that voters think that Cameron is very lightweight and that the Tory party is very right-wing.

David Cameron is failing to persuade voters that the Conservative Party has changed under his leadership. Voters perceive the party to be as right wing as it was under Michael Howard's leadership. They see David Cameron nearer the centre, but still further to the right than Gordon Brown is to the left.

A YouGov poll for Channel Four News found that the Tory party stands at +52 on a scale from +100 (very right wing) via 0 (the centre) to -100 (very left wing), even though Cameron's perceived political position is +33, well to the left of the Conservative party.

When asked whether voters thought Brown and Cameron were "HEAVYWEIGHT OR LIGHTWEIGHT POLITICIANS" Brown scores a big win.

As comparative attributes, these are the net scores i.e. plus giving positive answer, minus giving negative answer:

Brown +44, Cameron -50.

This is very bad news for Cameron. Basically, the voters see him as a lightweight who is unable to drag his party over from the hard right-wing.

Can I just say one more thing? Cameron is a lightweight. That's L-I-G-H-T-W-E-I-G-H-T.

Conservative Home has an excellent graphic of the poll here.

2 comments:

  1. History looks set to repeat itself:

    3 terms led by a charismatic leader sporting a bold new direction in party philosophy (Thatcher/Blair)

    4th election is fought between a dull but reliable incumbent PM (Major/Brown) against a moderniser who hasn't quite taken his party with him (Kinnock/Cameron).

    The question is, will history fully repeat itself and produce a wafer-thin majority for the incumbent? I rather hope so.

    If that Does happen, it also begs the question of who the Tories' Blair will be. Osborne? Don't make me laugh...

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  2. Yes, Leo, that all rings true. Perhaps the hour will arrive for Ann Widdecombe?

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