Poll Archive

Political Attitudes

Fieldwork: February 3rd 2006 - February 5th 2006

published by The Times

Click here to download detailed results 137k

Voting Intention

(Change on last month's poll)

Labour	36% (-3%)
Conservative	37% (+1%)
Lib Dem	18% (+2%)
Other	9% (-)

The 'Others' vote is broken down between

UKIP	1% (-)
Green	2% (+1%)
SNP	3% (+1%)
Plaid Cymru	1% (-)
BNP	{ 1% (-)
Others	1% (-1%)

Preference as Prime Minister

Who would you rather see as Prime Minister after the next election, Gordon Brown or David Cameron?

(Change since December in brackets)

	All	Men	Women	AB	C1	C2	DE	Lab	Con	LD	Swing
David Cameron	33% (-2%)	33% (-4%)	33% (-)	37% (-3%)	37% (+4%)	29% (-7%)	29% (-3%)	13% (-1%)	77% (-6%)	36% (+2%)	33% (-2%)
Gordon Brown	38% (+2%)	42% (+3%)	35% (+2%)	39% (+2%)	37% (-2%)	39% (+1%)	38% (+8%)	70% (+2%)	13% (+5%)	36% (-8%)	38% (+2%)
Neither	14% (+4%)	14% (+5%)	14% (+3%)	12% (+3%)	16% (+9%)	15% (+6%)	12% (-2%)	9% (+5%)	5% (+1%)	21% (+8%)	15% (+6%)
Don't know	12% (-7%)	8% (-8%)	16% (-8%)	8% (-6%)	7% (-14%)	15% (-2%)	19% (-6%)	8% (-6%)	5% (-)	7% (-1%)	14% (-5%

Gordon Brown, David Cameron or Menzies Campbell? [NB: asked of only a third of the total sample, so the breakdowns are based on fairly small sub-samples]

	All	Men	Women	AB	C1	C2	DE	Lab	Con	Lib Dem	Swing
David Cameron	29%	30%	29%	36%	30%	26%	25%	11%	73%	27%	28%
Gordon Brown	34%	35%	33%	33%	26%	42%	36%	68%	14%	28%	38%
Menzies Campbell	7%	9%	5%	4%	13%	5%	5%	5%	4%	31%	6%
None of them	10%	12%	8%	9%	12%	7%	10%	3%	0%	5%	5%
Don't know	17%	13%	22%	14%	18%	18%	20%	13%	9%	10%	23%

Who would you rather see as Prime Minister after the next election, Gordon Brown, David Cameron or Chris Huhne? [NB: asked of only a third of the total sample, so the breakdowns are based on fairly small sub-samples

	All	Men	Women	AB	C1	C2	DE	Lab	Con	Lib Dem	Swing
David Cameron	29%	32%	26%	36%	33%	24%	22%	6%	78%	31%	28%
Gordon Brown	41%	44%	38%	39%	39%	43%	42%	75%	14%	35%	40%
Chris Huhne	2%	2%	3%	3%	1%	3%	3%	2%	2%	9%	2%
None of them	11%	13%	9%	10%	13%	11%	11%	8%	1%	8%	11%
Don't know	14%	7%	21%	12%	12%	17%	20%	10%	4%	16%	18%

Who would you rather see as Prime Minister after the next election, Gordon Brown, David Cameron or Simon Hughes? [NB: asked of only a third of the total sample, so the breakdowns are based on fairly small sub-samples]

	All	Men	Women	AB	C1	C2	DE	Lab	Con	Lib Dem	Swing
David Cameron	30%	32%	29%	37%	39%	17%	24%	12%	79%	26%	34%
Gordon Brown	33%	36%	31%	35%	29%	35%	35%	69%	9%	30%	27%
Simon Hughes	5%	3%	7%	6%	7%	3%	4%	2%	1%	24%	4%
None of them	12%	13%	11%	7%	7%	22%	16%	5%	5%	11%	14%
Don't know	17%	14%	2%	13%	14%	24%	20%	12%	6%	11%	21%

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?

IRAQ war tracker	Apr03	Jun03	Jul03	Aug03	Sep03	Oct03	Nov03	Jan04	Feb04	Mar04	Jun04	Jul04	Sep04	Oct04	Nov04	Jan05	Feb05	Feb06
Right thing	64%	58%	47%	51%	47%	41%	37%	43%	41%	42%	37%	38%	34%	33%	31%	29%	32% 31%
Wrong thing	24%	34%	45%	41%	43%	50%	49%	45%	49%	50%	53%	52%	56%	53%	57%	53%	51%	59%
Don't Know 12%	8%	8%	8%	10%	8%	14%	12%	10%	8%	10%	10%	9%	15%	13%	18%	17%	10%
Net support for war 40%	24%	2%	10%	4%	-9%	-12%	-2%	-8%	-8%	-16%	-14%	-22%	-20%	-26%	-24%	-19%	-28%

Party Attribiutes

I am going to read out some phrases that have been used to describe political parties. Please say in each case if they are true or not true of Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrats. [Percentages of those who thought the statement was true are shown, change since December shown in brackets]

	Labour	Conservative	Lib Dem
Cares about the problems of ordinary people	48% (-2%)	38% (+4%)	58% (+7%)
Has a strong team of leaders	55% (-4%)	38% (+2%)	17% (-35%)
Is a united party	34% (-7%)	38% (-1%)	31% (-22%)
Is honest and principled	33% (-3%)	30% (-4%)	41% (-4%)

Do you think that British troops should stay in Iraq for as long as it takes to make sure that Iraq is a stable democracy or do you think that British troops should be withdrawn from Iraq as soon as possible even if Iraq is not completely stable?

	Jul-04	Oct-04	Feb-06
Stay until Iraq is stable	42%	49%	38%
Withdraw as soon as possible	51%	42%	62%

Cartoons Of Muhammad & Muslim Protests

The publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad by a Danish newspaper, and subsequently by newspapers in other countries, has caused outrage among Muslims, who regard any depiction of the Prophet as severely blasphemous. Protests against the cartoons have led to the closure of the EU's office in Gaza by armed gunmen, the withdrawal of Ambassadors to Denmark by some Muslim countries, and warnings of increased risk of terrorist attacks by Muslim extremists. Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

% AGREEING	All	Men	Women	AB	C1	C2	DE	Lab	Con	LD	Swing
The cartoons should be banned from publication because they cause grave offence to Muslims	52%	44%	59%	51%	52%	49%	55%	55%	49%	55%	55%
Muslims should accept the principle of freedom of speech, which means that newspapers must be free to publish such cartoons if they choose	65%	72%	59%	66%	67%	69%	60%	62%	78%	59%	64%
Newspapers have the right in principle to publish the cartoons, but they should not do so out of respect for the Muslim community	67%	66%	68%	69%	72%	66%	60%	71%	69%	71%	66%
By not publishing the cartoons, in the face of protests & warnings about terrorist attacks, the British press is giving into terrorism	32%	35%	29%	32%	33%	25%	36%	33%	39%	20%	28%

% AGREEING	All	Men	Women	AB	C1	C2	DE	Lab	Con	LD	Swing
The cartoons should be banned from publication because they cause grave offence to Muslims	52%	44%	59%	51%	52%	49%	55%	55%	49%	55%	55%
Muslims should accept the principle of freedom of speech, which means that newspapers must be free to publish such cartoons if they choose	65%	72%	59%	66%	67%	69%	60%	62%	78%	59%	64%
Newspapers have the right in principle to publish the cartoons, but they should not do so out of respect for the Muslim community	67%	66%	68%	69%	72%	66%	60%	71%	69%	71%	66%
By not publishing the cartoons, in the face of protests & warnings about terrorist attacks, the British press is giving into terrorism	32%	35%	29%	32%	33%	25%	36%	33%	39%	20%	28%

NET AGREEMENT	All	Men	Women	AB	C1	C2	DE	Lab	Con	LD	Swing
The cartoons should be banned from publication because they cause grave offence to Muslims	13%	-4%	29%	10%	12%	18%	19%	17%	8%	19%	18%
Muslims should accept the principle of freedom of speech, which means that newspapers must be free to publish such cartoons if they choose	38%	50%	18%	38%	42%	46%	29%	30%	63%	24%	37%
Newspapers have the right in principle to publish the cartoons, but they should not do so out of respect for the Muslim community	40%	37%	44%	43%	49%	32%	33%	45%	44%	43%	39%
By not publishing the cartoons, in the face of protests and warnings about terrorist attacks, the British press is giving into terrorism	-24%	-22%	-27%	-26%	-24%	-35%	-16%	-26%	-12%	-52%	-30%

England Manager

Sven-Goran Eriksson is to stand down as manager of the England football team in July, after the World Cup and the Football Association has begun the process of looking for his successor. Which of the following statements is closest to your view?

% AGREEING	All	Men	Women	AB	C1	C2	DE
It is important that the next England football manager should be English - rather than Scottish, Welsh or Irish	19%	20%	18%	13%	20%	17%	25%
The next England manager doesn't have to be English, but it is important he is British	12%	10%	13%	7%	9%	13%	18%
There is no reason why the next England manager should be English or British - he could be any nationality	65%	65%	65%	73%	69%	65%	53%

Populus interviewed a random sample of 1,508 adults aged 18+ by telephone between 3rd February 2006 and 5th February 2006. 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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