Team Brian GB
Baby Cameron loves X-Factor
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To stop cluttering other threads that are not directly relevant or starting new threads everytime something happens, it ought to be easier to have one thread of significance, akin to the US presidential race thread.
As I noted last night, yougov's tracking poll for the first time in a year put the Conservatives ahead of Labour, this isn't a one-time spike but a trend developing over the last few weeks where Labour's lead became smaller and smaller - other pollsters have had the Conservatives ahead before this.
What is most interesting in the numbers is the breakdown in the 18-24 demographic, the area where the Conservatives have taken ground back to lead overall:
Conservatives: 39%
Labour: 45%
This is one of Labour's most important constituencies, on election day last year they led the Conservatives by twenty percentage points, over the summer the distance between the two was somewhat similar - in recent weeks the gap has dropped dramatically to the point where the Conservatives are actually competitive amongst young people. When youth unemployment is so high, for Labour to be shedding support to such extent will every discouraging for them.
Even in Scotland the Conservatives have been clawing back ground, The Conservatives stand at 23%, the SNP at 33% and Labour at 35% - the next general election may turn into the nightmare scenario for Labour, having to run to the left in Scotland to snuff out any defection to the Scottish nationalists and having to run to the right in the south and the midlands to get the necessary floating voters. How you do that in a four week, centralised campaign will be keeping the Labour hierarchy up at night.
As I noted last night, yougov's tracking poll for the first time in a year put the Conservatives ahead of Labour, this isn't a one-time spike but a trend developing over the last few weeks where Labour's lead became smaller and smaller - other pollsters have had the Conservatives ahead before this.
What is most interesting in the numbers is the breakdown in the 18-24 demographic, the area where the Conservatives have taken ground back to lead overall:
Conservatives: 39%
Labour: 45%
This is one of Labour's most important constituencies, on election day last year they led the Conservatives by twenty percentage points, over the summer the distance between the two was somewhat similar - in recent weeks the gap has dropped dramatically to the point where the Conservatives are actually competitive amongst young people. When youth unemployment is so high, for Labour to be shedding support to such extent will every discouraging for them.
Even in Scotland the Conservatives have been clawing back ground, The Conservatives stand at 23%, the SNP at 33% and Labour at 35% - the next general election may turn into the nightmare scenario for Labour, having to run to the left in Scotland to snuff out any defection to the Scottish nationalists and having to run to the right in the south and the midlands to get the necessary floating voters. How you do that in a four week, centralised campaign will be keeping the Labour hierarchy up at night.