Tories maintain poll lead over Labour

Published on Tuesday 23 June 2009 15:13

The Tories continue to maintain a strong lead over Labour despite some narrowing of the gap over the past month, according to an opinion poll today.

The latest Ipsos Mori poll also found that while satisfaction with the Government was at its lowest ebb since Labour came to power in 1997, economic optimism was at a 12-year high.

The poll put the Conservatives on 38% among voters who say they are certain to vote – down two points on last month and 17 points ahead of Labour which was up three on 21%, while the Liberal Democrats were up one on 19%.

It found that the number who believed the economy would improve over the next 12 months – 41% – outstripped the number who believed it would get worse – 30% – for the first time since the turn of the millennium.

However, the Government's satisfaction rating of –62 (78% dissatisfied with the Government's performance as against just 16% who were satisfied) was the lowest recorded under the current Labour administration.

- Ipsos Mori interviewed a representative sample of 1,004 adults aged 18 and over across Great Britain. Interviews were conducted by telephone between June 19 and 21.