As the Liberal Democrats assemble for their conference in Liverpool, they will naturally be pleased to have a share of government for the first time in 65 years, although some among are harbouring nagging doubts about whether the political price of power could prove catastrophic.
The new Ipso-Mori poll for Reuters will only inflame the doubts. It shows that the coalition enjoys a decent (though sagging) overall standing, but that its two partners are faring very differently. Despite all the tough talk on cuts, the Conservatives have hung on to their full vote share from the general election. The big change in the landscape is a swing towards the Labour party that comes solely from the Liberal Democrats. Labour's lack of leadership has not done anything to staunch the flow, and this is the latest of several recent polls to show the third force down in the mid-to-low teens. Depending on what survey you look at, they have now shed between a quarter and a half of their support since the election.
Even more remarkable are the personal ratings of the leaders. Both Nick Clegg and David Cameron command significant support, but there is something decidedly odd about where the Lib Dem leader's support comes from. The survey says that Clegg's net satisfaction rating is actually a full 20 percentage points higher among Conservative supporters than supporters of his own party. Martin Boon, the experienced pollster at ICM, has just told me he can't immediately recall any other occasion where a leader has been less popular among his own tribe than those of another party. He describes it as "an extraordinary development", and adds that as the Liberal Democrats have already "haemorrhaged support to their left", it is even more striking to find that "the rump of loyalists are less keen their own man than the Conservatives seem to be".http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/16/nick-clegg-tories-poster-boyThis seems like a rerun of of what happened to the Liberal Party under Lloyd George during their disastrous coalition with the Conservatives after World War 1. Will Clegg's legacy be to destroy his own party to further his own career ?. All that hard graft by local Liberal Democrats activists to surrect the parties electoral support over recent decades pissed away to satisfy one mans vanity.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
