An hour and a half watching Ed Miliband debate four people who are not going to be Prime Minister.
That is the ordeal you had to go through in order to be qualified to answer Survation’s post-debate poll, which included the ‘sensational’ result that respondents preferred Ed Miliband to David Cameron by 45% to 40%. The figure set some even seasoned commentators agog at Ed’s miraculous turnaround on the preferred Prime Minister stakes, following years of languishing twenty or so points behind the Conservative leader.
Everyone should hold their horses. People who watch debates are, at the best of times, the electorally aware and highly partisan, largely tuning in to have their prejudices confirmed. This is going to be especially true of people who knew ahead of time (in order to be asked by Survation to take part) that they were going to don their political anoraks for Thursday evening’s performance.
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