Insight

Tory lead on economic trust increases

The Conservative lead on economic trust increases

In our latest opinion poll for the Observer, David Cameron and George Osborne were chosen by voters over Ed Miliband and Ed Balls as most trusted to handle the economy by a margin of two-to-one (40% vs 21%).

The economic indicators look better for Cameron and Osborne

The change from just over a year ago is clear. In December 2013 David Cameron and George Osborne’s lead on this was 11% rather than the present 19%.

The improved figures for the Tory frontbench seems to have come from a large proportion of those that didn’t trust any of the teams edging towards the government of the day as the economic news looked brighter. By contrast 21% trusted Labour in December 2013, the same as in February 2015. The Conservatives will sincerely hope that these trends will continue in the run up to May 7th.

Changes in opinion among the parties

Some of the interesting things to note about the results is the changing opinion among the voters of different parties.

For example, back in December 2013, UKIP voters were very clear that they did not trust any of the parties. Two thirds (66%) said they trusted none of the major economic teams, while 25% most trusted David Cameron and George Osborne. Fast forward 14 months and although the situation hasn’t drastically changed you can see it is shifting. This month, just over a third (35%) of UKIP voters trusted the Tories most to handle the economy.

The question remains, however, will this improving level of trust for the Conservative’s economic team lead to a large enough shift in voters to give them a win in the general election.

Opinium Research carried out an online survey of 1,975 GB adults aged 18+ from 17th to 20th February 2015. Results have been weighted to nationally representative criteria.