You are here: Home » Featured »

State of the Party survey: Mili-bounce back

February 8, 2012 11:33 am

Author:

Mark Ferguson

Tags:

Share this Article

At the turn of the year, LabourList readers were pessimistic about the performance of the Labour leader, with only 20% viewing his performance as Excellent or Good, compared to 51% percent who thought his performance had been Poor or Very Poor.

But Ed Miliband has bounced back this month, with a significant turnaround in his personal ratings that suggests you’re much happier with his performance over the past month. Now 43% of LabourList readers think that Ed Miliband is doing an Excellent or Good job (up 23 points) whilst 31% think that he has been Poor or Very Poor (down 20 points).

A significant factor behind the increased support for the Labour leader is his handling of Stephen Hester’s bonus. 77% of LabourList readers believe that Miliband was right to focus on the RBS man’s bonus, compared to just 20% who said he wasn’t.

However LabourList readers are much more divided on two other major issues around the economy – and neither will make happy reading for Ed Balls – LabourList readers believe that Labour’s approach to Tory cuts is wrong (by 51% to 43%) and disagree on Labour’s decision to back public sector pay freezes (by 51% to 44%).

Check LabourList tomorrow to see how the last month has impacted on your shadow cabinet rankings, and on Friday when we’ll be announcing January’s MP of the month…

721 LabourList readers voted in the survey, which ran from Wednesday 1st February to Tuesday 7th February. Thanks to everyone who voted.

Anonymous

In short, your readers would like the Opposition party to actually oppose things. It saddens me that you have to publish something so obvious in an attempt to reach your ‘leaders’.
- L Pendrey
  
  Spot on, this is the weakest opposition I can remember in my lifetime. Which is hard to believe at a time like this.
Neil Partridge

I wish i had known about the poll, my poor opinion of Ed Miliband has not changed and neither has that of the public at whole.
Anonymous

I’m sure Ed would be absolutely delighted…
Chilbaldi

It depends which way you want to spin it I guess.

A survey of Labour supporters returns an ‘undecided’ verdict on the leader. 43% think good or very good, while 31% think bad or very bad.

If that is what Labour supporters think, what would the general public actually think?
- Redshift
  
  To be fair, there has been a clear bounce back. Last time I voted poor, this time I voted average. He would have to have a serious cock-up for me to go back down to poor because since this survey, he has finally pulled his finger out his arse on the NHS. So I suspect next month I’ll either be average again or good.
http://twitter.com/Tristan_Cox Tristan Cox

In terms of the economy, the question as to whether Labour’s approach to Tory cuts is correct will attract a negative response from a wide group of people i.e. (1) those on the right who think we should accept the Tory line and (2) those on the left who think we should not cut anywhere near as much as the Darling plan would see us cutting.

This doesn’t produce the best data in my opinion.
E D Shaw

How many people have particpated in this survey?
Anonymous

721 – it says at the bottom of the post.

–
Mark Ferguson
Editor – LabourList.org
Mobile: 07545312954
Email: mark@labourlist.org
Twitter: @markfergusonuk
Skype: markandrewferguson
Anonymous

Great news.

I think Ed’s made a lot more headway and impact since the New Year.
Perhaps being very specific focusing on issues of public concern
and interest- and following through in detail has cut through
and been of greater relevance?
Also, I think he’s spoken with a lot more conviction.

Hopefully this year there will also be more substance on policy areas,
and greater involvement from members and public supporters
via the Refounding initiative?

He’s certainly shown he has courage in the face of adversity,
and is able to speak clearly and powerfully when the moment matters.

I hope he gains in confidence and experience on the frontline-
but it’s also about whole team approach and unity/collaboration
beyond traditional boundaries- to build more of a movement
with shared valued IMO.

It also goes to show Mark, how fluid these polls can be?

Maybe this too will be a crucial year for Labour’s fortunes.

Thankyou, Jo.
Davidbrede

Certainly he has had a better month and the party as a whole appears to be focusing on opposing the government and campaigning better to get its point across.

Clearly with Lansley fumbling the Health brief and Osborne showing his support for the bonus culture among bankers and others there is plenty of scope to expose the gaps between the government and the public.

Also Cameron cannot take tough decisions as was illustrated by Coulson and with the RBS affair this week so there is a lot of scope to force him to make uncomfortable choices.
Pingback: Politics live blog + PMQs – Wednesday 8 February - Car Crashes Articles

Latest

Video
Cameron refuses to answer question on secret government plans to hike interest on student loans

Last week it was revealed that the government discussed secret plans to hike interest on pre-existing student loans, meaning that anyone with a student loan will be expected to pay far more than expected. Today, the Prime Minister was asked about this – he spoke for nearly a minute but wouldn’t answer the question. What does he have to hide? How much more does he expect graduates to pay?
Read more →
Comment
Who benefits? Delivering on energy and infrastructure

By John Woodcock

Across the industrial north, it is striking how old pit villages and industrial towns are proving far less willing to embrace renewable energy than the noisier, more polluting fossil fuels and industries which shaped their identity. Energy companies are getting a nasty shock after mistakenly believing that these communities would not bat an eyelid at a few wind turbines on the surrounding hills because they had been content to make huge slag heaps part of the landscape in decades past. [...]
Read more →
News
Put reckless bankers in jail – Media roundup: June 19th, 2013

Subscribers to our morning email get the best of LabourList – including the Media and blog round up – every weekday morning. If you were a subscriber you would have already received this (and much more) in your inbox. You can sign up here. Put reckless bankers in jail Britain’s banking bosses should face jail if their decisions force fresh bailouts, the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards says today. The commission’s hotly anticipated report urges the Chancellor, George Osborne, to oversee the [...]
Read more →
Featured
Wise heads – 5 ex-ministers Miliband could put in the Shadow Cabinet

By Mark Ferguson

Last week I highlighted 5 women from the 2010 intake who Ed Miliband could add to his Shadow Cabinet in the coming months. Today I’ve taken a look at five of the wise heads on the backbenches with experience of government who could add something to Miliband’s front bench team in opposition: Alistair Darling – the obvious candidate for a return to the Shadow Cabinet at some point, Alastair Darling managed the remarkable feat of overseeing a financial crisis, and [...]
Read more →
Featured Unison Conference 2013
Why the government are keen to use trade unions as a scapegoat

By Ben Kind

“Mike Bassett did a better job as bloody England manager than David Cameron has as Prime Minister” Ricky Tomlinson tells me as he pauses for photos with union members at UNISON’s annual conference in Liverpool. Ricky’s just delivered a powerful opening speech to 2,000 UNISON members packed into the Echo Arena. Just like the final scene of his film Mike Bassett: England Manager, Ricky leaves the stage with his clenched fists pumping the air as thunderous applause fills the room. [...]
Read more →