It may not be all roses for the Lib Dems, despite a surge in popularity
Despite the surge in the popularity of the Lib Dems since last week’s leaders’ debate, they may not be sitting as comfortably as it would first seem.
Yes, they may leading in the opinion polls, and Nick Clegg may be the most talked about person in the UK this week, but you have to look at who the party have actually won over.
The fact is, the majority of people impacted by the “Clegg effect” are younger people of voting age, who are statistically less likely to actually vote on 6 May than, for example, the over-45s.
Of course, I don’t want to take anything away from Mr. Clegg or the Lib Dems – they have some sound policies and Clegg certainly outclassed the other two candidates in the first televised debate. All I’m saying is that if the yellows really want to capitalise on their new-found popularity they’re going to have to get some of the older electorate on their side – especially as it’s these voters that are giving the Conservatives the edge.
What’s more, a report this week claims that only 50 per cent of Lib Dem supporters actually know what their policies are, compared to two thirds of Labour and Conservative supporters. Are the people who have jumped onto the Lib Dem bandwagon simply because of Clegg’s charming image and dominance in the first leaders’ debate really going to bother voting? I’d imagine that the people who’ve taken some actual interest in the politics of this election (such as you lovely readers) would be first in line at the polling stations.
Basically, it looks like this election is still wide open, and any one of the candidates could walk away from tomorrow’s debate with a surprise new following – even this past week’s “Mr. Invisible”, Gordon Brown.
The next leaders’ debate takes place will be shown on Sky News tomorrow night (22 April) at 8pm. For those of us that don’t have Freeview or similar, it will be streamed live on the Sky News website.
