Lib Dems suffer from “unfair” cuts

Labour has a one-point lead over the Conservatives, with the Liberal Democrats at their lowest level in a ComRes poll since the election, according to a survey for the Sunday Mirror and The Independent on Sunday tomorrow.

Con      37% (+2)
Lab       38% (+1)
LD         13% (-3)
Other    12% (-)

(Change since ComRes for The Independent, 5 October.)

Only half of all people who voted Lib Dem in May would vote Lib Dem now; one in three people who voted Lib Dem at the election would now vote Labour.

In addition to voting intention, we asked questions about the spending cuts, which we hope to repeat over coming months. Most respondents expect to be worse off as a result of the cuts; feel that the cuts are unfair; that they are too severe and being made too quickly; but that the Coalition is not exaggerating the need for cuts on this scale for party political reasons. This last finding suggests that Labour has not yet persuaded voters that the Government is using the recession as an excuse for making “ideological” cuts.

Do you agree or disagree with the following statements:

I expect to be worse off personally as a result of the spending cuts

Agree: 65% Disagree: 16%

The cuts are unfair because they will be felt more by the poor than by wealthier households

Agree: 56% Disagree: 30%

The scale of the cuts planned is too severe and too fast

Agree: 51% Disagree: 34%
The need for cuts at the scale proposed has been exaggerated by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats for party political reasons

Agree: 37% Disagree: 42%
The Government is cutting public spending in a way that is fair to every section of society

Agree: 32% Disagree: 52%
The Coalition Government is ensuring that the most vulnerable sections of society are protected from the spending cuts

Agree: 28% Disagree: 51%

ComRes interviewed 2,015 GB adults online between 17 and 19 November 2010.  Data were weighted demographically and by past vote. Full tables at ComRes.

Recent Posts on Eagle Eye - Breaking views from commentators -

• Michael Gove could be prime minister
• Why savers should forgive the Bank of England
• Germany: Crisis what crisis?
• Reform lost in "holistic partnership"
• Public sector inefficiency at its worst