Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.
Miliband overtakes Cameron among Lib Dems for first time
We’ve been asking this question for a little over a year now — a year which has marked quite a reversal in fortunes for the two party leaders, as this graph illustrates:
Here’s the detail from this month’s survey…
LDV asked: Do you think Ed Miliband is doing well or badly as leader of the Labour party?
(Comparison with September’s results in brackets.)
- 1% – Very well
- 35% – Well
- 45% – Badly
- 15% – Very badly
- 5% – Don’t know
Total well = 36% (+13%)
Total badly = 60% (-11%)%
This is the first survey of Lib Dem members we’ve undertaken since the party conference season — and it’s clear that Ed Miliband has benefited most. Better than Nick Clegg, and certainly better than David Cameron as you’ll see below. His ‘One Nation’ speech-without-notes impressed many who heard it and, combined with his more assured performances at Prime Minister’s Questions, questions about his leadership have receded. Before we get too carried away, mind, his ratings still stand at -24% among Lib Dems, and remain negative among the wider public as well.
Cameron plunges to lowest rating yet among Lib Dems
Do you think David Cameron is doing well or badly as Prime Minister?
(Comparison with September’s results in brackets.)
- 1% – Very well
- 26% – Well
- 55% – Badly
- 14% – Very badly
- 4% – Don’t know
Total well = 27% (-7%)
Total badly = 69% (+8%)
This net negative rating of -42% is, by a long way, the worst yet for David Cameron among Lib Dems. I suspect he’s been hit by a double whammy. First, his approval among the public has been knocked by a general sense that he’s not got a tight enough grip on events (or, as I suggested here, that he’s sprawling ineffectively across too many issues). And secondly, his conference speech marked a reversion to traditional right-wing Tory values, with little of the moderate, centrist, small-l-liberal values in which he cloaked himself in his modernising phase leading the Tory party.
As I customarily note, rating David Cameron’s performance as Prime Minister is a different question from rating his performance as Conservative party leader (whether Mr Cameron’s ratings would be higher or lower among Lib Dem members if we asked that question, I don’t know. Though I could hazard a guess).
* Stephen was Editor (and Co-Editor) of Liberal Democrat Voice from 2007 to 2015, and writes at The Collected Stephen Tall.
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3 Comments
OTOH it could be a cunning wheeze to keep EdM in post.
Otoh I’m reminded of the dark joke Poles tell, about if locked in a room with a Russian, a German and a revolver, who they would shoot first.
I think Ed Milliband is playing things very well. He’s looking for issues that can be used to make life difficult for the coalition government: Europe and the Living Wage. In some ways, Ed Milliband’s personal popularity is irrelevant. We don’t have a presidential system. The Prime Minister is “first among equals”. To win long-term, it’s better for him to build strong teams and to find issues that can make life difficult for the coalition. Going on about him being “controlled by the unions” is not an arugment that can make much headway in a system where his opponents have received funding from corporations, plutocrats and crooks. He is playing the game of politics very well.
now if Nick can stay above and apart from the sorts of problems that Ed and Dave have, and if he is solidly supported by the membership.. – the fundamental way to show we are distinctive and different.