Public faith in government's economic competence on the wane

Labour's rising position in the polls has led to them moving ahead of both coalition partners in terms of voting intention in the latest YouGov poll, with a predicted vote share of 45%, against a combined 44% for the two parties currently in government.

However, most worryingly for the Conservatives is the detail of the poll, which shows changing public attitudes to Cameron as a leader (increasingly negative) and to the government's approach to the economy.

The views of the public towards the ability of a government to run the economy is a well-established driver of voting intentions, and on this measure the figures don't look good for Cameron. In this latest poll, more than half of voters now think that the government is doing a bad job of running the economy:


YouGov Poll 11 Feb: economic competence


In terms of the approach to public spending, public opinion has now definitively swung against the approach taken by George Osborne, with almost 60% of the public believing the cuts are being undertaken too fast:

YouGov Poll 11 Feb: public spending

The detail of responses to both of these questions help illustrate how much Clegg has alienated himself from many of those who voted for his party at the last general election. Only 30% of those who voted Lib Dem in 2010 now endorse the economic record of the government, according to the poll, and less than a quarter support spending cuts being undertaken at such speed.

Meanwhile, the latest poll from ComRes shows a very similar picture.