Yesterday’s YouGov poll for the Sunday Times had a few interesting nuggets buried beneath the top line (Lab 40, Con 39, as it happens). Here are some of the most topical findings:
1) Clegg’s tax proposals are very popular. 83 per cent support the Lib Dems’ policy of increasing the personal allowance to £10,000. This might explain the 12-point jump in Nick Clegg’s net approval rating since last week. And there’s strong support for the ‘mansion tax’ that Vince Cable’s been pushing since 2009. 66 per cent back ‘a new tax upon people with houses worth more than £2 million’ — something Clegg called for again last week — and 50 per cent support taxing those with houses worth over £1 million.
2) The benefit cap is also very popular. 72 per cent back the government’s planned cap on the amount of benefits a household can receive, with just 17 per cent opposed. As
you’d expect, support is strongest with Tory voters, at a whopping 94 per cent. But there’s also 2-to-1 support among Labour voters, suggesting just how powerful the policy could be
come election time. As for the level of the cap, the public’s view seems to roughly match the government’s £26,000:
3) The bishops are on thin ice. YouGov find 2-to-1 opposition to excluding child benefit from the £26,000 cap, as advocated by an amendment put forward by the Bishop of Ripon
and Leeds and passed in the Lords last week. Some have suggested that taking a stand against both the government and public opinion might hurt the standing of the 26 ‘Lords Spiritual’,
and this poll seems to bear that out. 65 per cent say CofE bishops are ‘out of touch’, and 58 per cent say they shouldn’t sit and vote in the Lords. The coalition’s plans
for Lords reform already include reducing their number to 12, but these results suggest eliminating them completely would be a popular move.
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