Revealed: What Lib Dem members think of Ed Miliband and David Cameron
by Stephen Tall on March 29, 2013
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 650 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.
Miliband edges ahead of Cameron among Lib Dems (though ratings of both decline)
We’ve been asking this question for 18 months, and over the past year there has been quite a reversal in fortunes for the two party leaders, as this graph illustrates:
Here’s the detail from this month’s survey…
Do you think David Cameron is doing well or badly as Prime Minister? (Comparison with December’s results in brackets.)
- 0% – Very well
- 26% – Well
- 55% – Badly
- 15% – Very badly
- 4% – Don’t know
Total well = 26% (-8%)
Total badly = 70% (+7%)
Do you think Ed Miliband is doing well or badly as leader of the Labour party?
- 1% – Very well
- 29% – Well
- 47% – Badly
- 17% – Very badly
- 6% – Don’t know
Total well = 30% (-3%)
Total badly = 64% (n/c)%
A year ago Ed Miliband’s ratings reached their lowest recorded figure among Lib Dem members: a massive -84%. Since then, bolstered by the pummeling (self-)inflicted on the Tories and more confident performances, the Labour leader has gained ground. For the second time, he finds himself nosing ahead of the Prime Minister — though that is due to the continuing fall in Mr Cameron’s ratings. A year ago he had a net rating of +22% among Lib Dem members. Today it stands at -44%.
I don’t suppose either are bothered by what Lib Dem members think of them, but it’s an interesting barometer of their credibility as potential partners if there were to be another post-2015 coalition. As I customarily note, by the way, rating David Cameron’s performance as Prime Minister is a subtly 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 Tall is Co-Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice, a Research Associate for the liberal think-tank CentreForum, and also writes at his own site, The Collected Stephen Tall.
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