Poll Archive

Political Attitudes

Fieldwork: September 2nd 2005 - September 4th 2005

published by The Times

Click here to download detailed results 119k

Voting Intention

Change on previous poll for The Times, in July, in Brackets.)

Labour	37%	(-3%)
Conservative	35%	(+7%)
Lib Dem	20%	(-2%)
Other	8%	(-2%)

The 'Others' vote is broken down between

UKIP	1%	(-1%)
Green	2%	(-)
SNP	2%	(-)
Plaid Cymru	1%	(-1%)
Others	2%	(-)

Licensing Reform

New laws on alcohol licensing are due to take effect in November. These will introduce flexible opening hours for all licensed premises, allowing pubs to stay open until the early hours of the morning and provide live music subject to consideration of the impact on local residents, businesses and various authorities.

From what you know, do you support or oppose the planned changes in licensing laws?

	All	Men	Women	Lab	Con	LD	Swing	AB	C1	C2	DE
Support	34%	43%	25%	43%	20%	34%	34%	37%	37%	34%	25%
Oppose	62%	52%	71%	53%	76%	64%	63%	58%	59%	64%	68%
Don't know	4%	5%	4%	4%	4%	3%	4%	5%	3%	2%	7%

Agreement with statements about licensing reform

	All	Men	Women	Lab	Con	LD	Swing	AB	C1	C2	DE
Flexible opening times will help to reduce public disorder, noise & nuisance and make it easier for the police because drinkers will no longer all be leaving licensed premises at the same fixed closing time	42%	50%	35%	51%	31%	41%	40%	44%	40%	48%	38%
Flexible opening times will increase public disorder, noise & nuisance because it will result in more people leaving licensed premises late at night who are more likely to have drunk more	55%	47%	63%	47%	68%	57%	57%	55%	59%	50%	56%
Don't know	3%	3%	2%	2%	1%	2%	3%	2%	2%	2%	6%

	All	Men	Women	Lab	Con	LD	Swing	AB	C1	C2	DE
Flexible licensing and the possibility of 24 hour opening will increase the amount of binge drinking because people will drink for longer if the law allows them to	53%	46%	60%	49%	60%	49%	52%	52%	53%	52%	56%
Flexible licensing and the possibility of 24 hour opening will reduce the amount of binge drinking because there will no longer be pressure to drink as much as possible before 'last orders'	43%	50%	37%	50%	39%	43%	44%	45%	45%	47%	37%
Don't know	4%	4%	3%	2%	1%	8%	3%	4%	2%	1%	7%

	All	Men	Women	Lab	Con	LD	Swing	AB	C1	C2	DE
The proposed reforms rightly treat people like adults and recognise that it is not the place of government to dictate when or for how long they drink alcohol	34%	43%	25%	40%	21%	34%	34%	36%	35%	34%	30%
Excessive drinking poses serious problems for society so government should maintain tight licensing laws which restrict when & for how long people drink alcohol.	63%	56%	70%	59%	76%	62%	64%	61%	64%	63%	64%
Don't know	3%	1%	5%	1%	3%	5%	2%	3%	1%	3%	6%

Conservative Party

The Conservative Party is in the process of choosing a new leader to replace Michael Howard, who announced he was standing down after the party's defeat in the general election. Which one of the following possible candidates do you think would make the best leader for the Conservative Party?

	All voters	Tory voters	Swing voters
Ken Clarke	41% (+12%)	55% (+26%)	44% (+14%)
David Davis	10% (-2%)	16% (-10%)	8% (-1%)
David Cameron	2% (-2%)	3% (-2%)	2% (-2%)
Malcolm Rifkind	5% (+1%)	4% (+2%)	5% (+1%)
Liam Fox	3% (-)	2% (-5%)	3% (-)
David Willetts	1% (-)	1% (-)	1% (-)
Andrew Lansley	1% (-)	1% (-1%)	2% (+1%)
Don't know	31% (-15%)	17% (-9%)	33% (-14%)

Half the sample was asked - If the choice at the next election is between Labour led by Gordon Brown, the Conservatives led by Kenneth Clarke and the Liberal Democrats led by Charles Kennedy, which party would you vote for - or would you vote for some other party or not vote at all?

The other half of the sample was asked - If the choice at the next election is between Labour led by Gordon Brown, the Conservatives led by David Davis and the Liberal Democrats led by Charles Kennedy, which party would you vote for - or would you vote for some other party or not vote at all?

The following figures are weighted by past vote

	Clarke v. Brown v. Kennedy	Davis v. Brown v. Kennedy
Labour	39%	43%
Conservative	37%	33%
Lib Dem	19%	18%
Other	5%	6%

Tony Blair and Terrorist Attacks

Thinking about the way that Tony Blair responded to the terrorist attacks on London and the measures he has since proposed to address the threat of future terrosim, which of the following statements is closest to your view?

	All	Men	Women	Lab	Con	LD	Swing	AB	C1	C2	DE
My view of Tony Blair has become more positive because of the way he has handled the threat of terrorist attacks on Britain	19%	22%	16%	29%	14%	14%	20%	16%	18%	26%	16%
My view of Tony Blair has become more negative because of the way he has handled the threat of terrorist attacks on Britain	24%	23%	25%	15%	37%	33%	25%	26%	21%	28%	23%
The way Tony Blair has handled the threat of terrorist attacks on Britain hasn't changed my opinion one way or the other	52%	51%	53%	55%	47%	48%	51%	54%	56%	44%	52%
Don't know	5%	5%	6%	2%	2%	5%	4%	3%	6%	2%	9%
Net change in attitude to Tony Blair	-5%	-1%	-9%	14%	-23%	-19%	-5%	-10%	-3%	-2%	-7%

Iraq

Thinking about the build-up to the war in Iraq and everything that has happened since, do you think that taking military action was the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do?

	Jun-03	Jul-03	Aug-03	Sep-03	Oct-03	Nov-03	Jan-04	Feb-04	Mar-04	Jun-04	Jul-04	Sep-04	Oct-04	Nov-04	Jan-05	Sep-05
Right thing	58%	47%	51%	47%	41%	37%	43%	41%	42%	37%	38%	34%	33%	31%	29%	30%
Wrong thing	34%	45%	41%	43%	50%	49%	45%	49%	50%	53%	52%	56%	53%	57%	53%	55%
Don't Know	8%	8%	8%	10%	8%	14%	12%	10%	8%	10%	10%	9%	15%	13%	18%	15%
Net support for war	24%	2%	10%	4%	-9%	-12%	-2%	-8%	-8%	-16%	-14%	-22%	-20%	-26%	-24%	-25%

Cricket

Please say if you agree or disagree with the following statements I have been taking a closer than usual interest in how the England cricket team is doing in its matches against Australia for the Ashes.

	All	Men	Women	AB	C1	C2	DE
Agree	51%	59%	44%	55%	50%	52%	47%
Disagree	44%	37%	50%	41%	44%	44%	45%
Don't know	5%	4%	7%	4%	6%	3%	8%

The England cricket team are much better role models than the England football team

	All	Men	Women	AB	C1	C2	DE
Agree	66%	69%	63%	65%	67%	69%	63%
Disagree	20%	21%	19%	22%	22%	18%	19%
Don't know	14%	10%	18%	13%	11%	13%	19%

Populus interviewed a random sample of 1,506 adults aged 18+ by telephone between 2nd September 2005 and 4th September 2005. Interviews were conducted across England and the results have been weighted to be representative of all English adults. Populus is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. For a full description of the methods we use, please click here.

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