Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members responded, and we’re currently publishing the full results.
Increase in members thinking Lib Dems on ‘right track’
LDV asked: Do you think, as a whole, the Liberal Democrats are on the right course or on the wrong track?
-
• 69% – The right course
• 22% – The wrong track
• 9% – Don’t know
This gives us a net figure for ‘right track / wrong course’ of +47%, a significant up-tick over the course of the year. This is a question we’ve tracked over the past few years — here’s how that net figure has changed during Coalition:
-
April 2011, +39%
January, +36%
November 2010, +42%
August, +52%
July 2010, +52%
So +47% is, therefore, the highest figure for the party since the tuition fees U-turn, although it has not returned to the highs of summer 2010, just after the formation of the Coalition.
Pre-conference bounce for Nick Clegg’s leadership
LDV asked: What is your view of Nick Clegg’s performance as Lib Dem leader?
-
16% – Very satisfied
51% – Satisfied
Total satisfied – 67%
20% – Dissatisfied
10% – Very dissatisfied
Total dissatisfied – 30%
3% – Don’t know
This gives Nick Clegg’s leadership a net +37% approval figure. Again, this is a question we’ve been tracking for some years. Here are the post-Coalition figures:
-
April 2011, +17%
January, +19%
November 2010, +40%
August, +62%
July 2010, +68%
It’s clear that Nick Clegg’s approval among Lib Dem members has taken a hit since the Coalition’s earliest days. However, since we last asked the question in April, satisfaction with Nick’s leadership has returned to a more comfortable level: from a 57%/40% split then, to 67%/30% today.
- Over 1,200 Lib Dem paid-up party members are registered with LibDemVoice.org. Some 550 responded to the latest survey, which was conducted between 11th and 15th September.
- Please note: we make no claims that the survey is fully representative of the Lib Dem membership as a whole. However, LibDemVoice.org’s surveys are the largest independent samples of the views of Lib Dem members across the country, and have in the past accurately predicted the winners of the contest for Party President, and the result of the conference decision to approve the Coalition agreement.
- The full archive of our members’ surveys can be viewed at www.libdemvoice.org/category/ldv-members-poll
Follow @LibDemVoice on Twitter
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
"Ooh, Your Eminence!": A short review of Conclave (2024)
Weekly Road Report - West End Ward #dundeewestend
Ongoing huge cost of Brexit divorce
Craig Levene
Nigel Jones
David Raw
Pamela Manning
9 Comments
the party as a whole seems to be on the right tracks, but the leadership not? this certainly seems at odds with clegg’s ambition to stay on as leader post-2015.
Sorry, Kevin – where does this survey show what you claim? It shows a positive score for satisfaction with NC as leader.
Why would anyone in the Lib Dems (I’m not a member) want to bring down Clegg and trigger an election that would see the parliamentary party halved? Isn’t that why he’s so ‘popular’? – everyone clinging on to the hope that the polls might improve over the next 3.5 years (inspite of Clegg) and wanting to show unity. That, and the fact that many who disagree with Clegg’s leadership have left the party.
Aren’t the thoughts Lib Dem members conditioned by the terror of the prospect of a snap election.
despite the disclaimer, 550/65000 members doesn’t sound that healthy to me. wonder what the figures are amongst the lost lib dems?
It looks like the low point in Party morale was sometime in the summer. This ties in with our performance in local byelections since early July. Before that our vote share was running at 16% but over the last 10 weeks I calculate it at 24%.
Paul – how are you doing that calcuation? There are a few ways of doing it – some of which would be seriously bogus.
When I took part in one of these surveys (I resigned a year ago), one question was whether one identifed as centre-right, centre, centre-left etc, with the last (I am sure I remember) being the most common response. Was this question asked this time? Be interesting to know if this has shifted.
I think it would be helpful to quote the figures for the remaining questions in the survey (of which there were many) which would give a much fairer picture of satisfaction (or otherwise) of the Party Members in general terms!
Two questions from the total number in the survey does not give a fair picture of people’s attitudes, in my view.