Voters prefer Cameron to Brown

27 September, 2009 09:28:00

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Voters think David Cameron would make a better Prime Minister than Gordon Brown by two to one, according to a new poll.

By Ben Leach

Just 20 per cent believe Mr Brown is the best man for the job out of the current three main party leaders, the ICM survey suggested.

Some 43 per cent said the best choice was Mr Cameron, the Tory leader, while 14 per cent preferred the Liberal Democrats' Nick Clegg. Another 16 per cent said none of the three.

Even a quarter of Labour voters backed Mr Cameron, the poll found, demonstrating the scale of the challenge facing the Prime Minister ahead of his party's annual conference.

The poll also suggested that Labour goes into its last annual rally before the next election trailing the Tories by 14 points. Tory support was put at 40 per cent and Labour's at 26 per cent.

Potentially most alarming for Labour is that the Lib Dems are only three points adrift on 23 per cent, although that may reflect increased coverage during the Lib Dem conference last week.

More than two-thirds of voters - 69 per cent - would not change their vote if Mr Brown was replaced as Labour leader.

Only 16 per cent said it would make them more likely to vote Labour, indicating that a change of leader might not significantly improve the party's position.

ICM interviewed 1,003 adults by telephone between September 23 and 24 for the News of the World poll, weighting results to the profile of all adults.