The Conservative Party’s lead has dropped from nine to seven points in the past month, according to a ComRes poll for The Independent.
It puts the Tories on 38 per cent (unchanged since last month), Labour on 31 per cent (up two points), the Liberal Democrats on 19 per cent (no change) and other parties on 12 per cent (down two). If repeated at a general election, these figures would leave David Cameron 24 seats short of an overall majority in a hung parliament.
The Tories are 16 points ahead among men but trail Labour by four points among women. There are signs that Labour is winning back its core supporters. It has a lead of 44 to 33 per cent among the bottom DE social group.
The poll suggests the public have doubts about the Tories’ economic policies. Some 82 per cent of people (and 82 per cent of Tory supporters) believe that Mr Cameron should be clearer over what he would do about the economy, with 13 per cent disagreeing.
Only 24 per cent of people believe the recession would have ended earlier if the Tories had been in power, while 69 per cent disagree.
However, Mr Cameron is ahead of Gordon Brown on the economy. Only 40 per cent of people say they trust Mr Brown more than Mr Cameron to help
Britain’s economy to recover, while 52 per cent do not.
Voters seem in no mood to give Labour credit for the recovery. Only 37 per cent believe Labour can take the credit for getting
Britain out of recession, while 59 per cent disagree.