Labour has dipped below 30% in a mainstream opinion poll for the first time in the General Election campaign, as Conservatives racked up four-point leads in two separate surveys.
The Survation poll for the Daily Mirror put Ed Miliband’s party on 29% – down four points compared with a similar poll released on April 17.
But Conservatives did not appear to have benefited from the Labour slump, dropping one point to 33%. Instead, it was Liberal Democrats who scooped the bulk of the extra support, jumping three points to 10%, while Ukip put on one point to reach 18% – just one point short of their best rating of the election campaign. The Scottish National Party was unchanged on 4% and Greens up a point to 4%.
Tories also had a four-point lead in a ComRes poll for the Daily Mail and ITV News, which put Conservatives on 36% (up two since a similar poll a fortnight ago), with Labour on 32% (down one), Ukip on 10% (down two), Liberal Democrats on 8% (down four) and Greens on 5% (up one).
However, a YouGov survey for The Sun put Mr Miliband’s party in the lead on 35% to the Tories’ 33%, Ukip’s 13% and the Lib Dems’ 8%.
In the ComRes poll, some 48% of those questioned said they would consider backing Labour and 47% the Conservatives, while much smaller numbers said they would consider a vote for Ukip (29%) or the Liberal Democrats (28%).
Tom Mludzinski, head of political polling at ComRes said: “Our latest poll continues the trend we’ve seen all year, with the Conservatives just – but consistently – ahead of Labour.
“Despite this lead, both parties have very similar proportions of the electorate willing to consider voting for them. With just two weeks left and the margin so fine, both Labour and the Conservatives will be exerting most of their efforts on moving people from these pools of potential support into polling booths across the country to make their votes count.”
* ComRes interviewed 1,003 adults by telephone on April 21 and 22. Survation interviewed 1,205 adults online on April 22 and 23.