Voters focus on domestic issues
Fears that the Iraq war will blight Labour’s push for a third historic term office would appear overblown, according to a new poll.
Although Iraq and its presumed effect on voter trust has dominated the headlines this year, an ICM poll, commissioned by The Guardian, shows that Iraq ranks last on a list of 10 key issues determining how people will vote.
Only 12 per cent of those questioned said that Iraq would be a key issue in deciding who to support in the next general election.
Foreign affairs in general appear low down the list, with the European Union coming only eight out of ten. Though Conservative voters are more concerned than with the EU than other voters, they only rank it sixth on their list of concerns.
Instead, domestic issues appear as the pivotal deciders.
59 per cent cited health services as the major concern, followed by 42 per cent for education and 35 per cent for law and order.
The economy, asylum, jobs, the EU, and interest rates were all ahead of the Iraq war.
In terms of voting intentions, Labour’s popularity was up one point on last month to 36 per cent.
Michael Howard saw the Conservative party’s standing rise three points to 33 per cent, mainly at the expense of the Liberal Democrats who slipped three points to 22 per cent.
Other parties saw their share of support drop off considerably, down from the 13 per cent in June to nine per cent this month. The UK Independence Party saw its support slump from four per cent in the June Guardian/ICM poll to less than one per cent this month.
