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Miliband’s popularity slumps in wake of strike

December 13, 2011 5:46 pm

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Ed Miliband’s popularity with LabourList readers has slumped over the last month – and it’s not hard to pinpoint why. The percentage of respondents rating Miliband as Good or Excellent has fallen to just 26% down from 40% last month and a high of 59% in the wake of the phone hacking scandal in July. 41% think that Miliband’s performance has been Poor or Very Poor, with 33% considering his performance to be average.

Percentage of readers who think Miliband’s performance has been Excellent or Good

The explanation for the slump seems to be linked to Miliband’s handling of the November 30th strikes. LabourList readers were overwhelmingly supportive of the strikes, with 83% backing the action. Meanwhile only 25% believe that Miliband handled the strike well, compared to 67% who think he handled it badly.

It remains to be seen whether Miliband can bounce back in the New Year, or whether the damage done in permanent.

Tomorrow on LabourList we’ll be revealing the latest shadow cabinet rankings, and on Thursday we’ll be revealing who your MP of the month is. (Apologies for the delay in publishing this month’s survey. We’ll be back up to speed next month).

604 voted in the November State of the Party survey, which took place between Monday 5th and Friday 9th Decemer. Thanks to everyone who voted.

Related posts:

  1. Miliband’s popularity slumps: State of the Party – May 2011
  2. Miliband popularity dips, and AV too close to call: State of the Party – February 2011
  3. A surge in popularity for Balls: State of the Party – January 2011
  4. Milibands at war: 8 in the morning – September 16th
  5. If the Milibands work together, we can win the next election
  • jaime taurosangastre candelas

    Mark,

    there is a question on the survey that asks if someone is a party member or not.  Are you able to look at the data to come up with a figure of approval / disapproval from only party members?  I always answer “no” to that question as it is the truth, but I do wonder if the overall result is skewed by non-party members answers, and to be honest my opinion on his performance is not as important – to the Party – as a party member’s opinion.  I answered “poor” this month, previous months “average”.  If there were 400 non-party members responding out of 600 in total, perhaps the result is not as bad as it may look.

    • Anonymous

      But when is a member not a member, after the re-founding Labour I carry my Union membership which I believe now means I’m an associate member, funny old world.

  • Anonymous

    And the  polls will show an even worse performance if he continues in his pro-EU policies.

    • Anonymous

      Problem is nobody  are yet sure who he is, what he stands for, and why the hell should people vote for him, I’ve no idea and I suspect have other people.

    • Ianrobo

      as the Polls shown last night the ones the Tories attracted in the main were UKIP, for labour minded supporters, being anti or pro europe is of little consequence. It would be the ultimate irony if labour people wanted pullout of the EU given the ‘suicide note’ in the 83 election called for exactly that and it was the Tories that dragged us in further.

      This is something people forget now and people have forgotten that the Tories have said absoutely no question of a Yes/No vote on the EU itself.

      this will blow over, as we see today 128K more unemployed people and the focus shifts back to the failing economy where the cuts are causing extreme damage.

      Greece – More austerity – budget deficit prdicted to GROW

      US – stimulus and Keynesian packages and economy growing, unemployment falling and if it continues then the defecit can be worked on, reminding ourselves it was the failure of the laffer curve and trickle down that got themselves in the trouble anyway.

  • Stockport Red

    604 respondents, wow!

  • Essexboy

    Please Labour whatever you do don’t get rid of this chap as Party leader! 

    He is the most effective opposition leader in modern history, as he’s on course to achieve the seemingly impossible feat of not only losing the next general election against the most unpopular government since WWII, but also guaranteeing them another term with an overall majority. This drip is gold dust for us rabid right-wing neo-Thatcherite monetarist loons. Must dash, I’m off to back garden to howl ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ at a full moon.

  • http://www.facebook.com/andrew.m.peacock Andrew Mark Peacock

    I am a Labour voter and member but i dont read labour list very often.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MCHMWHXOWHZGAMD2YHT36LW2LY Alan Giles

    To be fair to Ed Miliband, rather like Cameron, he is to some extent constrained by the  ghastly old waxworks of the past: say anything even slightly anti-Blair and you will have the likes of Sniper Blunkett or Cheerful Charlie Falkoner coming out of the woodwork to put the boot in (just like Cameron as to be careful not to upset John Redwood or Lord Tebbitt).

    John Hutton is always ready to come forward with some helpful help to the coalition.

    Ed Miliband may not be the greatest, but he is far better than his brother, the Blair mini-me, David would have been.

    Ed Miliband needs to be his own man more – say what he really believes and damn the dying gasps  of the old Blairite malcontents.

    It will be a long haul for any leader to bring Labour back from the right -leaning stance, which Blair and to some extent Brown , fostered 0- the slightly lighter blue versikon of the Tories which they allowed the party to become.

    • Anonymous

      Been saying the same since he has come in, he’s trying to satisfy every one and yet no one, he was against the strikes, then on strike day he came out for the strikes.

      He’s not able to say what he thinks in case the Blairites react or the Brownites  react, he’s tried cleaning out these groups but you have Johnson and balls hanging around in the hope he fails so they can move.

  • Ianrobo

    given the open nature of this poll, given the amount of Tory trolls that now post on here these results should be framed in that context.

    Because if it was the strikes, the PMQ’s where Ed directly mentioned them and supported the people, it got good reviews from both left and right of the party.

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  • Liberanos

    The party voted for David and the unions elected Ed. With the unions as popular as smallpox, Eurofanatacism gone for good and Ed performing like a schoolboy against suddenly masterful Cameron, why are we surprised he has so few friends to the right of Ken Livingstone?

    Ed’s natural level is junior minister in a minor department. It’s cruel to expect him to act like a powerful, charismatic leader. And watching him perform, it sometimes seems to me that in his deepest heart he knows it.

  • derek

    Jeez! how many more chances does Miliband need to hit a direct punch on Cameron’s chin?

    It’s really pathetic that this PM can get away with what ever he likes without a strong opposition standing up to him. At today’s PMQ’s the PM accused Miliband  of supporting the strikes, you could clearly read the lips of Miliband saying he didn’t support those strikes. Cameron also said that the opposition hadn’t an answer on the Euro “Veto” why didn’t Miliband just say he would have agreed to further talks rather than just pull the plug?

    Labour is in a serious state here! because we’ve failed to outline what labour stands for and what we want to do. 

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  • Anonymous

    Read what the Guardian has to say.. Yes.. Not the Telegraph   .. but the Guardian..

    guardian.co.uk/politics/wintour-and-watt/2011/dec/14/edmiliband-davidcameron?CMP=twt_gu

    If you read the Teelgraph, you would laugh. They are writing Ed’s epitaph before he is dead.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MCHMWHXOWHZGAMD2YHT36LW2LY Alan Giles

    Perhaps some right-wing Labour voters would have welcomed David Miliband as Labour leader (egged on by his main cheerleader John Rentoul), but the truth is David Miliband would have been a continuation of Blair, and the public had already had enough of Blair six years ago. If you remember one night in May 2005 Labour had a majority of 166. The following day, thanks to his warmongering and Tory-esque policies the majority was reduced to 67.

    MiniMe-David would be even less popular than his brother with a vast tranche of the Labour party and the non-committed floating voter. DM was even advocating “taking on” Iran. Do we really want to be in a perpetual state of war?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Barker/1546990341 Paul Barker

    If you go over to LibDem Voice you can see what 550 Libdems think of current Party direction. The figures for Clegg will be going up tonight or tomorrow I think.
    Still think youre all missing the point, its not Ed thats the problem its Labour.

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  • Alan Lloyd121

    I am afraid that it is in times of industrial unrest that New Labour gets found out. All those working class people who normally take no notice of the hot air from Westminster then look to what used to be the traditional political allies of labour for support, and what do they find, a bunch of gutless pseudo Tories. I hasten to add there are exceptions such as the magnificent John McDonnell, Katy Clark and Jeremy Corbin, and a handful of others, but as for the rest….

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