The polls: Tories edge closer to majority
By politics.co.uk staff
Opinion polls on the final Sunday before the general election have seen the Conservatives improve their position – and advancing closer to an overall majority.
While polls by ICM, YouGov and ComRes continued to place the next Commons firmly in hung parliament territory, an ICM marginals poll for the News of the World predicted David Cameron would have a four-seat majority.
Its survey in 96 hotly-contested seats being fought by Labour and the Conservatives put the rival parties on 35%. Increased Lib Dem support, on 22%, was said to have compromised Labour’s support, giving the Tories the prospect of crucial gains.
The biggest Tory advantage in the national polls was by ComRes, for the Sunday Mirror and the Independent on Sunday.
It put Mr Cameron’s party on 38%, up two points, while Labour and the Lib Dems both slipped one point to 28% and 25% respectively. This result would leave the Conservatives 11 short of an overall majority.
The Tories enjoyed their biggest gain in an ICM poll for the Sunday Telegraph, which saw them up three to 36%. With Labour up one to 29% and the Lib Dems slipping three to 27%, Mr Cameron would have a seven-point lead – but still be 47 seats short.
The Sunday Times’ poll by YouGov was unchanged, with the Conservatives on 35, Labour on 27 and the Lib Dems on 28. In this scenario the Tories would be 41 seats shy of a majority.
