Hot on the heels of the Greens surge in the polls ahead of the May 22 European Elections, polling out today shows the Greens have jumped five points and are polling at 8% in non-European polling ahead of next year’s General Election. Reacting to the Ipsos MORI polling, a Green Party spokesperson said: “The Greens have not polled this strongly in non-European polling ahead of a General Election since 1989, the year the Green Party secured 15% of the vote. Our message of real change for the common good is clearly striking a chord.”
Reacting to the Ipsos MORI poll, The London Evening Standard reported that, “today’s big winners are the Greens, whose support has shot up from three to eight points on the back of higher exposure in the campaign period.” Green leader Natalie Bennett attributed the strong polling to the popularity of Green Party policies when given more media exposure and to voters’ disenchantment with the big parties. Speaking from Leeds, she said the polls “chime with what I am hearing around the country”.
According to ICM’s European Elections polling released May 12, the Green Party is polling at 10% ahead of the May 22 European Elections, putting it firmly in fourth place and three percentage points ahead of the ailing Liberal Democrats (7%). The Greens are within touching distance of meeting their target of trebling their number of MEPs from two (Jean Lambert, London, and Keith Taylor, South-East) to six.
Based on a national swing the latest poll would give the Greens five seats in England plus one in Scotland. The Liberal Democrats would have zero seats. Among 18-24 year-olds the Greens are the second most popular political party.
The Green rise in the polls comes alongside a fall in support for the Labour party ahead of this month's local and European elections - although they retain their poll lead. Labour are down three points this month on 34%, with the Conservatives unchanged on 31%. The Liberal Democrats are unchanged on nine percent, while UKIP have fallen four points to 11% - the same proportion they were on in March, having seen a bounce in April following Nigel Farage's debates with Nick Clegg.
Dissatisfaction with Nick Clegg is at its highest point since October 2012, with two thirds 66% dissatisfied with his performance as Deputy Prime Minister; just 23% are satisfied giving him a net rating (% satisfied minus % dissatisfied) of -43. As with his party, Nigel Farage saw his personal ratings drop after a post-debate bounce, though with 35% satisfied and 46% dissatisfied (from 40% satisfied and 36% dissatisfied last month), more people are still satisfied with him than Ed Miliband or Nick Clegg, though 19% still say they 'don't know' about his performance.
Satisfaction in both David Cameron and Ed Miliband is up slightly, with 39% satisfied and 52% dissatisfied with Mr Cameron, giving him a net rating of -13, and 31% satisfied and 54% dissatisfied with Mr Miliband, giving him a net rating of -23. Both are appealing slightly better to their own parties; more than eight in ten (84%) of Conservatives are satisfied with Mr Cameron, the highest level since January 2012, while just under six in ten (56%) of Labour supporters are satisfied with Mr Miliband, the highest level since last October in the aftermath of his well-received conference speech and energy price freeze policy announcement.
Gideon Skinner, Head of Political Research at Ipsos MORI said: "With a year to go - and only a few weeks to the local and European elections - neither of the main parties will be feeling comfortable. Labour's average share this year is down four points from their 2012 average, but the Conservatives are also staying stubbornly in the low 30s, despite the best economic optimism we've seen in 36 years of asking the question."
