Plenty to encourage the Tories in the Populus poll

Nicholas

Well, if "On the side of ordinary people or on the side of rich people?" is not a loaded question I don't know what is.

strapworld

Mr Blackburn. Do you not think that these polling companies are controlling the agenda? Do you not think that something really stinks about these polls? How can they be so out of kilter.

Take the one you are highlighting 82% think that NOW is time for change!! so how on God's earth does that marry with the ALLEGED rise in support for the ghastly Brown and his incompetent government? Frankly it does not.

I think it would be far better if you took a stand against these polls and just relied on one the Angus Reid Poll featured on Political Betting. Just keep with that one. They got the Canadian result spot on, against all the other pollsters who, as here, were suggesting a hung parliament!

I genuinely believe that socialism controls these poll organisations and want to confuse people.

Frankly it is time all opinion polls were banned six months before any general election.

At this rate we will be reading jack in a box polls every day. Frankly it is ridiculous. We all know that Labour will be well and truly trounced at the polls and wherever Brown appears (if he has the guts to do walkabouts) bananas will be thrown at him! Most probably Banana skins, why waste good fruit on this bad apple?

Do us all a favour and ignore these politically controlled polls!

Publius

@Strapworld
I agree. For the most part, the polls are stupid questions asked of stupid people by stupid people, which are then fed to us by stupid lazy journalists who are spun to by manipulative spinners.

Vulture

The entire political class is held in extremely low esteem at the moment - and rightly so.

Support is low, expectations are zero - and turnout at the GE will also be low: (hopefully especially among Liebour voters.)

This poll confirms that there is a total absence of the Feelgood factor that normally accompanies the demise of a Govt long past its sell-by date.

People are tired, cynical, apathetic and pissed off.

With around half the Parliament of Thieves exiting and an influx of bright-eyed, bushy-tailed Dave Babes (less Joanne Cash in Westminster who's just quit in a huff) it might be 1997 all over again : except we've all been here before.

Is it still Groundhog Day...Day...Day...Day?

TrevorsDen

If you look back at the history of Populus polls over the last 12 months, they have only once since April 2009, ie last month, put the Tories on over 40. So historically this is a steady as you were no change poll.

Tories were on 42-43 before that, until the expenses scandal. And even then the lead over labour was just 10 points.
So simply looking at headlines tells you nothing. As a journalist Mr Blackburn, you should know that.

Naomi Muse

The Tories need to work on what they are saying and looking different from the batch of men in suits that is the current government.

However, all the time there is the phoney election no-one knows what the reality will be but now is the time when the psyche of the Tories needs to be firm and focused on doing good things for the country in 2011/12 rather than focusing on the nitty gritty for the next few months, when all it will do is change again.

THX1138

Dave has said that if 100,000 signatures on petition on any issue, there should be a House of Commons debate on it.

Right lets see is we can get 100,000 for an Ashcroft debate?

We deserve to know if the man that bankrolls the Tory party has kept his promise and pays his tax in the UK.

http://www.gopetition.co.uk/online/33982.html

Another populist policy made on the fly that will bite the Tories on the arse ..

denis cooper

It's simply NOT TRUE to say that

"Cameron has led the parliamentary reform debate".

Ostensibly he's picked up certain ideas floated by Hannan and Carswell and others within the Tory party; but even they were following behind people outside the Tory party, not least in and around UKIP.

But what Cameron has done is to subtly adjust and dilute those ideas, so that in practice they'd be almost entirely neutralised and we'd carry on with the same old system of "elected dictatorship", only with him and his immediate circle taking their Buggin's turn as the dictators instead of Brown and his immediate circle.

I'm getting increasingly annoyed at the way he keeps trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

The fact that Brown et al are proven liars does NOT entitle Cameron to deliberately deceive, and if he genuinely respected the people he wouldn't keep trying to do so.

Cameron's speech yesterday was entitled "Rebuilding trust in politics", but having read it carefully I trust him even less than before.

It's like one of those mass-produced Cornish pasties which look great pictured on the packet, but when you bite into it you find that inside the crust it's almost entirely air, with a bit of potato and pepper and virtually no meat.

Paddy

The

tory

The Tories need to hurry and get their act together.

Yesterday after Cameron gave his speech Harriet Harman was on the news channel rubbishing it and this went on throughout the day and finished on newsnight.

Labour have had 13 years of playing dirty. Cameron must get the likes of Ken Clarke , William Hague etc. and all sing from the same hymn sheet. Keep pressing home the same point: Labour are a shambles and will put up taxes.

Ex-Tory voter

To my mind the "64 percent believe Britain is heading in the wrong direction" is the important statement - many people want Labour's intrusive laws, political correctness and client state unpicked. What has Dave offered in this respect apart from his wobbly commitment to marriage and repeal of one flawed Act?

Verity

I agree with Denis Cooper above. In my own observation, everything David Cameron says is bland, anodyne, non-commital.

Even that silly poster he keeps posing with means absolutely nothing. I wonder why he didn't just go the whole way and have the headline read "Time For Change You Can Believe In".

denis cooper

@ THX3318 -

Dave actually said:

"... any petition that collects one hundred thousand signatures will be eligible to be formally debated in the House of Commons."

Only "eligible" to be debated; in a crowded Commons schedule, with timetabling motions proposed by the government and passed by a majority of MPs, who are supporters of the government, there may or there may not turn out to be time available to debate it.

DZ

Paddy: unfortunately, it is not only Liebour: the country is in a shambles as well, and taxes will have to be increased. Have to think of something else. My own prefence would be to dissolve every Quango on day 1 and cut off any PFI initiative on day 2. Why should we take the strain for Labour's mess? Let their mates in the PFI go bankrupt, not us.

Alex

THX1138 - or a petition on the Unions debate and their money/influence on your beloved Labour party?

The general public don't give a hoot about Ashcrofts affairs, no matter how hard you want them to.

Dirty Euro

Decreasing the number of Mps will make unfair results more likely. It is more likely the biggest party will get unfair majority.
Look the larger the number of the Mps the more representative parliament will be.

THX1138

Alex - You maybe right but they do care about corruption & lying in politics and Ashcroft appears to be lying to us - He promised he would pay his Tax in the UK to get his Knighthood & it's increasingly looking like ho doesn't.

And I'm voting Tory..Maybe!

TGF UKIP

THX 1138 at 7.47 pm. Your voting Tory says just about everything about why the Cameron Tory Party is not worth voting for.