The country is yet to be convinced of the benefits of coalition government.
The country is yet to be convinced of the benefits of coalition government
As the year draws to a close, eyes in Westminster and beyond will be fixed firmly on May’s General Election.
The polls are clear – barring some miraculous turnaround in the fortunes of either Labour or the Conservatives, the country is heading for another hung Parliament.
Against this backdrop, Ipsos Mori has released data as part of its final political monitor for the year showing that the country is yet to be convinced as to the benefits of coalition government.
Firstly, the polling shows that 63 per cent of voters now believe a coalition government is the likely result in May (25 per cent very likely, 38 per cent fairly likely). This is up from the 51 per cent who thought it was likely in January (14 per cent very likely compared to 37 per cent fairly likely).
However such a prediction should not be viewed as an endorsement for this form of government. Almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of respondent said that a coalition government would be a bad thing for the country, the same proportion as recorded in January.
Interestingly, however, the proportion of those believing the current coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats has been bad for the country has fallen slightly to 56 per cent, down from the 60 per cent recorded in January.
Commenting on the findings, Gideon Skinner, head of political research at Ipsos MORI, said:
“As the year ends, the prospect of another coalition is growing more likely in voters’ minds – a reflection of the historically low levels of support they are giving the main parties, even while the same voters maintain they don’t like the idea of coalitions. There are differences even within the current coalition too – Liberal Democrats are over twice as likely as Conservative voters to think another Coalition is what Britain needs.”
Ed Jacobs is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward
31 Responses to “Voters not keen on coalition 2.0”
swat
The public always whinge; they weren’t even keen on the Wartime Coalition either.
There’s no pleasing some people.
ForeignRedTory
Since I actually prefer PR, wasted effort.
Voting Reform is not on the agenda for a generation.
So, now what?
Leon Wolfeson
You evidently prefer FPTP, as you oppose voting reform this generation.
Start by stopping blatently lying.
ForeignRedTory
You’re talking crap. I come from a PR country and I would darned well prefer it installed here too, best with the German 5% clause, to keep the nutcases out of of Parliament. No more Kippers? No BNP, no respect-party? Brilliant, AFAIC.
But guess what? There was a referendum, the public did not want reform, and the matter is dead in the water, until 2030 of so.
Leon Wolfeson
The referendum rejected AV, which is not proportional.
*You* don’t want to discuss it to 2030 or so, don’t blame anyone else for your views!