Election 2017: Charts explain why Labour is just five points behind Tories in the polls
Tory lead has been slashed following social care fiasco
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Your support makes all the difference.The so-called dementia tax is the main Conservative manifesto policy voters recall, according to a poll.
Theresa May’s plan to shake up social care was met with widespread derision and the party was forced into an embarrassing U-turn just days after it was announced.
But the Labour plan to scrap tuition fees is what voters remember as the party’s main manifesto policy, a YouGov survey revealed.
General election campaigning will resume today after a pause following the Manchester bombing, which left 22 people dead.
The pollsters asked voters – without prompting -- what they believed the main policies of the main parties were, based on what they had seen or heard.
Forty per cent of the people surveyed could not remember anything connected to a party manifesto.
But for those who could, 36 per cent of people named the Tories’ controversial ‘dementia tax’ as the party’s main policy – the party’s only proposal which over a fifth of people mentioned, indicating it was by far the most memorable.
Going ahead with Brexit was the next main policy, but to just 12 per cent of people. Ten per cent of people said means testing winter fuel allowance, eight per cent said ending free school meals and seven per cent said reducing immigration.
In contrast, Labour’s policies were more widely remembered. In addition to the 32 per cent of people who said they most remembered the party’s plan to scrap tuition fees, 21 per cent of people recalled the party’s pledge to increase NHS funding.
Twenty per cent of people recalled the party’s policy of nationalisation – Labour wants the state to own the railways and Royal Mail – and thirteen remembered the promise to increase income tax.
Just five per cent mentioned more funding for schools.
The recollection of party promises is not necessarily indicative of voting intention, just what has stood out more in people’s minds.
Yesterday, it was revealed that the Conservative lead over Labour has been slashed to just five points – its smallest margin since the election was called.
The controversy over Tory social care plans was viewed as damaging to the party and soured the manifesto launch. But Labour’s manifesto, despite being leaked before publication, was generally well received by the public.
This is apparently demonstrated by another YouGov poll, showing the difference in attitude to the Conservative and Labour campaign policies.
Prior the Conservative manifesto launch, 45 per cent of people believed the party had lots of policies, and 35 per cent of people thought they were well thought through and 38 per cent of people thought they weren’t.
But after the manifesto was launched, there was a significant shift in attitude, with 54 per cent of people saying they didn’t think the policies were well thought through and only 19 per cent thought they were.
Conversely, before Labour’s manifesto was launched, just 25 per cent of people thought the party’s policies were well thought through, rising to 31 per cent afterwards.
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