Labour has seized back the lead from the Tories in the latest Opinium/Observer poll, opening up a two-point advantage, with less than two months to go until the general election.
A week ago the two main parties were neck and neck on 34%, as the Tories appeared to be gaining ground in most opinion surveys. But according to the latest Opinium poll, Labour is up one point, on 35%, while the Tories are down one on 33%.
There is little movement from the other parties, with Ukip unchanged on 14%, the Greens stuck on 7%, the Lib Dems down one point on 7% and the SNP also unchanged on 3%.
Last night a ComRes poll for the Independent on Sunday and Sunday Mirror also put Labour on 35% and the Tories on 33%, suggesting that claims of a Conservative surge may have been premature.
With George Osborne preparing to deliver his final budget of this parliament on Wednesday, in which he is expected to trumpet a return to growth in the economy and announce limited tax cuts, the Conservatives will be hoping for a resulting poll boost next weekend.
Ed Miliband also receives a boost from Opinium’s personal ratings for the leaders.
He sees a seven-point improvement to -24% when the numbers of those who say they disapprove of his leadership are subtracted from the numbers who approve.
David Cameron – while still way ahead of Miliband – has, however, seen his ratings drop by two points to -6%.
Opinium asked voters for their views of the role of the Lib Dems in coalition and found them divided. A third of likely voters said they thought that the Liberal Democrats’ decision to join the Tories in government had been bad for the UK, while 28% thought it had been good.
Some 44% of voters agreed with the statement that the Lib Dems had prevented some of the excessive things that a Conservative administration would have done on its own, while 24% disagreed. Voters seemed unconvinced that the Lib Dems were now a “party of government”, with 29% saying they were and 44% saying they were not.
Opinium Research carried out an online survey of 1,947 UK-based adults aged 18+ from 10 March to 12 March. Results have been weighted to nationally representative criteria.
