The polls: Hung parliament remains
By politics.co.uk staff
Four new opinion polls out this morning show a firm Tory lead but still put the election in hung parliament territory.
An ICM poll for the News of the World of 96 marginal constituencies show a surge of support for the Lib Dems, with the Conservatives on track to take 308 seats, Labour 248 and the Lib Dems 61.
“The results show the Lib Dems are powering back into the equation in the marginals largely at the expense of the Tories,” Martin Boon of ICM said.
“A hung parliament is a real prospect.”
The Tories have a slim lead of two points on management of the economy and a four point lead on jobs and prosperity, indicating the national insurance row has played to their advantage.
But Labour dominate on the NHS, with a ten point lead. They also lead on education, by three points.
Only 42% of voters told the survey they had made up their minds – 31% say they will not decide until closer to polling day.
Meanwhile, a ComRes poll for the Independent on Sunday put Labour on 32 points, seven points ahead of the Tories in a survey that would see Mr Cameron 15 seats short of a majority if translated at a general election.
Interestingly, the poll tells a different story of Lib Dem performance, with the party dropping four points since last month.
Forty-four per cent of respondents said the Conservatives were not ready for government. But 54% said Labour is more likely to raise taxes.
Surprisingly, Alistair Darling came out on top of people’s perceptions of who would make the best chancellor, trumping the popular Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable. Shadow chancellor George Osborne came bottom of the pile with just 19%.
A YouGov poll for the Sunday Times put the Tories on 40%, unchanged, against Labour on 32%, up two points. The Lib Dems were down two points on 18%.
