The ComRes poll in today’s Independent could well be signinficant. It puts the Tories on 39 percent (up 2); Labour on 34 percent (down 2); and the Lib Dems on 16 percent (up 2). But it’s the below-headline findings on tax and spend that really pack a punch. Tim Montgomerie’s already pulled out the key passage from the Independent article, but I’ll repeat it here for the benefit of CoffeeHousers:
“Asked how they would vote if the Tories committed themselves to a lower level of public spending than Labour and to try not to raise taxes – Mr Cameron’s current policy – 49% said Tory, 32% Labour and 11% the Liberal Democrats.
There was a similar result when people were asked how they would vote if Labour committed itself to higher public spending than the Tories and admitted it was likely to mean an increase in some personal taxes – Mr Brown’s current position. The figures were: Tory 48%, Labour 30%, Liberal Democrats 13%.” Now, it’s probably too early to read into these things, but this may suggest that support for Brown’s so-called Keynesian approach to the downturn is ebbing away. At the very least, it shows that there’s a strong vein of support for fiscal responsibility that the Tories can key into.
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