The Limits of Hefferism. (And of Ed Miliband)

Anthony Wells sifts through IPSOS Mori’s latest poll:

For David Cameron, 30% of people like both him and his party, 39% like neither. 17% like Cameron but not his party, 7% like the Conservatives but not Cameron. Hence, in total Cameron is liked by 47% of people (down 6 since before the election) and the Conservatives by 37% (down 1) – while Cameron’s likeability has dropped somewhat since the election, he is still viewed considerable more positively than the party he leads.

Emphasis added. Like everyone else, I’m an admirer of Simon Heffer’s style (and he is sound on cricket too) but it might be worth remembering that his pro-Conservative, reliably anti-Cameron position seems to be a minority view that should not be thought more widespread than it seems to be.

Meanwhile, on the other side:

For Ed Miliband, 25% like both him and his party, 31% like neither. 11% like Miliband but not his party, 20% like Labour but not their leader. Hence in total 36% like Miliband and 45% like Labour, meaning Miliband is less popular than the party he leads (although this early in his leadership it’s going to be largely down to people not really being aware of him). The comparable figures for Gordon Brown from before the election were 37% liked Brown and 43% liked Labour – not actually much different yet, though the reasons behind it are obviously very different.

This is a problem for Labour and it is not at all obvious to me that people “being aware” of Mr Miliband is going to help him very much. Indeed, it may be that the more often he appears on television the less likely it is that he will be perceived as a credible Prime Minister.

As for Nick Clegg? Well, the numbers are a little better than you might expect:

Finally MORI asked about Nick Clegg. Sadly this appears to be the first time they’ve done it for the Lib Dems, as it would have been fascinating to see the changes. Anyway, 24% like both Clegg and the Lib Dems, 35% like neither. 16% like Clegg but not the Lib Dems and 16% like the Lib Dems but not Clegg. Overall 40% like Clegg and 40% like the Lib Dems.

This seems less disastrous for the Lib Dems than much of the media coverage of the party’s woes might lead you to believe.

[Via John Rentoul]