# UK General Election May 2015 (Population Share Version) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 2, 2015, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612 "2015-04-02T10:29:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612/1 "2015-04-02T10:29:57Z")
With the election now underway, and new topics cropping up every day, I thought it might be worth trying another general General Election thread. Given the documented tendency for these threads to become perhaps a touch overly focused on the SNP, I’m proposing not that we ignore this issue entirely (it is a factor in the election, after all) but that we stick to a population rather than geographical share model - if c. 8.5% of posts touch on the issues of Scotland, the SNP threat to Labour and the likely influence of a prospective Labour/SNP coalition on English voting intentions, I think the topic will be well served.\* In the meantime, there are other issues nearly as important we might want to discuss: [ul] [li]Major issues and where the parties stand on them (e.g. the economy and fiscal policy);[/li][li]Policy announcements and news events (e.g. business leaders’ letter backing the Conservatives, or Labour’s anti zero-hours contract policy);[/li][li]General trends in polling (e.g. the increasing share taken by both major parties);[/li][li]Pointing and laughing at the Liberal Democrats (it would take a heart of stone, etc.);[/li][li]The TV debate and what influence, if any, it might/will/does have (Don’t feel you have to watch it though).[/li][li]Anything else (within reason, though, eh?)[/li][/ul] \*NB This specific figure is a joke. I’m not literally going to calculate any topic’s share of the debate, and nor should anyone else because holy fuck, _come on_. Equally, nor should anyone feel they have to. Let the general principle of proportionality guide you. And this one: if at any point you find you are posting about 19th century US Presidents instead of the UK general election, you are posting in the wrong thread. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612/2 "2015-04-02T10:38:37Z")
The Tories, and Cameron, in particular, are keen to make this election about Cameron vs Miliband. Certainly, Dave tends to win more admiration for his personal qualities than Ed. But I’m wondering if that may backfire, due to a combination of: Dislike of playing the man, not the ball; The springboard of low expectations; Miliband actually being more charismatic and human than the media (who are scrupulously neutral in these matters) tend to present him. Exhibit A for the last of these is this interview Miliband did with Absolute Radio, in which he comes across as warm, funny, human, enthusiastic and spirited. His throwaway line about Cameron’s professed love for hot curries (“well, that just goes to show how tough he is”) in particular I thought was very nicely done. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14Wy4Vh-4bM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14Wy4Vh-4bM) More performances like this or his interview with Paxman, especially in tonight’s 7 way debate, and the apparent weakness the Tories are attacking may well fade away. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612/3 "2015-04-02T11:00:20Z")
I’m not a big Miliband fan, although I’ll take Ed over David. Yes, Ed looks and sounds a bit goofy but that wouldn’t really matter if Labour actually had a strong platform to run on, which is something they’ve been very slow to build. It’s really only now that we’re starting to see some serious daylight between the two parties policy-wise in their messaging. Personally I’m still likely to vote Green or Lib Dem - I’m in a very safe Labour constituency (majority of about 5,800) and while my MP appears to be a fairly harmless backbencher (and AFAICT largely scandal-free apart from some idiocy over Worcestershire sauce) I’d like him to feel a little less safe. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612/4 "2015-04-02T12:02:30Z")
Oh yeah, I’d far rather people were talking about policies and fundamental ideals but we seem to have kicked off with an exchange of personalities - and I think it may not work on its own terms. Two Labour policies that I think do show daylight, and which in the light of the Green/SNP surge and other anecdotal evidence (like the response to Michael Sheen’s speech on the NHS) might well demonstrate a willingness to take a stand are: Ending of bedroom tax Ending of fees for employment tribunals. The latter in particular highlights a very clear workers/bosses dividing line. ---
**Author:** ![Cumbrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@Cumbrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumbrian)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612/5 "2015-04-02T12:25:35Z")
Re: voting intentions, I am broadly in line with Gyrate. I live in Chuka Ummuna’s seat, and he’ll win it fairly handily, but I am keen to give him a bit of a bloody nose and reduce his majority a bit. This probably means voting Green to be honest. I guess we’re going to see how all this plays out but, at the moment, I think Labour’s tactics of keeping their powder dry on policy initiatives and releasing them around now - so time for people to understand them before putting a cross in the box - is reasonably sound. At the moment, they’re getting a decent ride. I strongly expect that the tide will turn from the majority of the media close to the poll though - the right wing press in particular will do everything possible to run Labour down in the last 2 weeks of the campaign. How they ride that out is likely to be important. No one’s getting a majority though, I think, barring any major changes, so all that press talk will likely just be putting Cameron at the head of another coalition. The news yesterday that Clegg looks like he may well lose his seat is delicious. That 5 years worth of semi-power could well consign him and many of his party to oblivion. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612/6 "2015-04-02T13:14:39Z")
> [@Cumbrian](#): > > The news yesterday that Clegg looks like he may well lose his seat is delicious. That 5 years worth of semi-power could well consign him and many of his party to oblivion. Yes, the LibDems sold their soul to join a coalition with the devil, and the only concession I can remember them getting apart from something to put on their CVs was that half-arsed AV referendum that destroyed any chance of having a serious discussion about PR for another 20 years. College tuition, taxes, benefits…every LibDem pledge went right out the window in return for the right to be the Tories’ whipping boys. Frankly, apart from anti-Tory/anti-Labour strategic voting I can’t see any reason to vote LibDem at all, since their promises apparently aren’t worth squat. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612/7 "2015-04-02T13:30:20Z")
Indeed. It was a complete failure to understand why people voted for them: sure, party activists thought nothing was more important than electoral reform, but voters cared about tuition fees, benefits and of course civil liberties. They’ve taken a bit of a kicking under this government, despite the best efforts of Grieve, and the Lib Dems were nowhere to be seen. This inability to realise why people vote is the reason I struggle to vote Green. I too live in a solid Labour seat, and if I thought a Green vote would drag them leftward I would do it. But I fear they might respond by trying to be greener and offering e.g. anti-nuclear power, anti-animal testing or anti-GMO policies to win Green voters back. And I don’t want that at all. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612/8 "2015-04-02T13:47:24Z")
Just read a really good [blog](http://wp.me/pjSvg-vT)on the debates, and the potential upsides and downsides for Miliband. Especially good as the author is a Tory who’s frequently pretty vicious about Miliband on Twitter, but is very fair and insightful here: > [@](#): > > It is a feature of our age that politicians are almost uniformly unpopular with the electorate, but even by the standards of his rivals, Mr Miliband’s approval ratings are terrible. He is frequently portrayed by Britain’s press, much of which is hostile to the Opposition, as incompetent and clownish, and lampooned mercilessly on social media. It is true that Mr Miliband has been guilty of a number of missteps during his nearly five years as leader, and been hampered by a fairly hapless media operation that has hardly helped him get his message across. It is also the case that he is not a natural on camera, and frequently comes across as awkward, wonkish, and remote. > > But the Labour leader is highly intelligent and has shown himself capable of tapping into the public’s mood of distrust towards the media, during the phone hacking scandal that engulfed the Mirror Group and Rupert Murdoch’s News International, and articulating the widely felt sense of anger at the perceived inequality in British society and the failure of the UK’s painfully slow economic recovery to share the proceeds of growth fairly across rich and poor alike. > > Simply put, Mr Miliband cannot fail to exceed expectations on Thursday night, if only because they are so modest; simply walking to the podium without tripping over will be enough to defy the worst caricatures put about by his enemies. But he is capable of considerably more than merely surviving the debate without disaster. This is the main reason why the Prime Minister was unwilling to debate him head to head, and probably explains the modest opinion poll “bounce” that Labour enjoyed over the weekend following a pair of major set-piece studio interviews involving the two rivals for Number 10 in which the Labour challenger was widely considered to have, at the very least, held his own. > [@](#): > > But the format also holds two significant dangers for Ed Miliband. First, he is by common consent not as accomplished a media performer as Mr Cameron, Mr Clegg, the affable populist Nigel Farage or the SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon – who may well emerge as the winner from Thursday’s debate… > Every one of the opposition leaders on the podium on Thursday will therefore, at least to some extent, be fighting for the same votes.It will be in their interests to portray Tories and Labour as two peas in a pod… > [@](#): > > In summary, if he is forced to tack to his left, Mr Miliband will risk vacating the all-important centre ground on which elections are typically said to be won and lost; either way, he may find himself being portrayed as part of the problem, not the solution to Britain’s ills. In the increasingly fragmentary political landscape, Labour’s central pitch is that only they can oust the Tories from office – but if the other parties can persuade voters that Labour are peddling the same discredited politics as the Conservatives, Mr Miliband’s position becomes very precarious indeed. And internecine left-wing squabbling may allow the incumbent to “rise above the fray” and project statesmanship and authority. ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612/9 "2015-04-02T14:52:19Z")
Ignoring which minor parties hold how many seats, how do you expect Britain to be governed following the election with A/ Labour more seats than Conservatives B/ Conservatives more seats than Labour And 1/ Enough potential votes for a majority programme of government 2/ Not enough potential votes for a majority programme of government What do you see the Government being on May 8th and each week thereafter. This is asked because no-one seems keen to discuss the ramifications of the Fixed Term Parliaments Act. My prediction is that there will be a long period of minimal government of one colour or the other with a completely new experience for UK politics. If people think the formation of the coalition was an exciting time, they ain’t seen nothing yet. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612/10 "2015-04-02T15:18:43Z")
I think there are more natural political allies on the Labour side of the equation, so unless the Conservatives increase their current number to the extent that they can cross the line with support from the DUP and UKIP I think they’re going to struggle to form a government. Certainly the LibDems are unlikely to side with them again, and the Greens and SNP sure as hell won’t. Somewhat more likely, Labour will get enough to get Ed into Number 10 with support - but not necessarily in the form of a coalition - from the LibDems, Greens and (at particular arms’ length) the SNP. This will be a weak government with endless deals being made to try to keep the minority parties happy without alienating the Labour base, something which I’m not convinced Ed is capable of sustaining over five years. That said, a fragile government will keep him safe from any internal power struggles as no one will want to upset things too much. And I’m not a fan of the Fixed Term Parliaments Act, but as it sustains weak governments it’s unlikely that we’ll see it go any time soon. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612/11 "2015-04-02T15:40:09Z")
Simply in terms of numbers, I too don’t see much prospect of Conservative led group - they and the Lib Dems are on course to lose seats. Polls do seem to be drifting towards both main parties so it could be that either/both Labour and Conservative are much more substantial minorities than currently expected - but I don’t see a majority in play for either as yet. Not least because most small party --\> big party gains would be made from potential allies. With a minority Labour government, I’d expect a fairly narrow legislative programme, initially weighted towards some fairly populist moves - e.g. scrapping the bedroom tax - that can’t be opposed without looking bad. However, there’d be an internal appetite to pass something significant on the scale of an interim budget or flagship health/education/housing bill to show that this was a government that could get stuff done. That would mean a lot of small-c coalition horse-trading - and even cross-bench deals aimed at MPs with reduced majorities. How good Miliband would be at managing that process remains to be seen. As you say, FTPA means that there won’t easily be a new election but if a government got bogged down, or pissed off its allies too much, there could be a no-confidence vote. It would be ballsy, and interesting, for a minority government to call a snap vote of no confidence as a way of cementing its right to govern - daring the opposition parties to be the ones responsible for putting everyone through another campaign. (“The question before the House is, do you respect the people of Britain?”) Given the two-phase nature of the FTPA provisions it might be something they only scrape through second time round, but once they had a vote of confidence they would feel a little steadier. I doubt this would happen though. ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612/12 "2015-04-02T15:57:35Z")
Supposing both Labour and Tories have a reasonable claim to form a government, we need took at the possibilities. On May 8th Cameron will still be PM and the Coalition Government will still exist. In order to force them out of Government the Labour Party will have to do something it has never been good at (see Brown in 2010) which is compromise with other parties. Under the new provisions of the FTPA so long as the coalition is not massively defeated, they remain the Government until Parliament resumes on 18th May. No Queens Speech need be delivered for some further weeks. Cameron could argue that stability is more important than certainty and continue to govern until a fortnight after any vote of no confidence, allowing the Coalition to continue as the Government until at least the middle of June. Should it survive until late July, Parliament may be ready to go away for the summer. I can see months of stalemate with no successful vote of no confidence. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612/13 "2015-04-02T16:05:42Z")
Well the Conservatives have done a good job pushing the “if you ally with the SNP you hate Great Britain” message which will make any talks with the SNP by anyone (PC aside) a bit trickier. One hopes that this is a contigency Labour has already considered; if they haven’t, they’re too incompetent to be in office. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612/14 "2015-04-02T17:51:38Z")
[QUOTE=Gyrate;18257807 One hopes that this is a contigency Labour has already considered; if they haven’t, they’re too incompetent to be in office.[/QUOTE] As far as I can tell the mood music between Labour and the SNP is very much based on confidence and supply rather than anything more formal. I don’t there’s any way either could go any further than that: SNP have used a lot of “Red Tories” rhetoric that their more, err, bright-eyed voters have lapped up, and Labour can’t afford the subsequent mauling they’d get down South. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612/15 "2015-04-02T18:00:41Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I think there are more natural political allies on the Labour side of the equation, so unless the Conservatives increase their current number to the extent that they can cross the line with support from the DUP and UKIP I think they’re going to struggle to form a government. Certainly the LibDems are unlikely to side with them again… Particularly as Mr. Cameron, with that breathtaking cluelessness which is his trademark, declared last year that after this election the Tories would no longer ally with the LibDems. Ditching one’s allies is a time-honoured move, but giving them notice is telling one’s trusty native guides a few weeks before they won’t be paid after exiting the jungle. > [@Stanislaus](#): > > But I fear they might respond by trying to be greener and offering e.g. anti-nuclear power, anti-animal testing or anti-GMO policies to win Green voters back. And I don’t want that at all. Those are the only policies that would induce me to support Labour. [Have they dropped the _New_ yet ?] ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612/16 "2015-04-02T19:00:36Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > Particularly as Mr. Cameron, with that breathtaking cluelessness which is his trademark, declared last year that after this election the Tories would no longer ally with the LibDems. > Ditching one’s allies is a time-honoured move, but giving them notice is telling one’s trusty native guides a few weeks before they won’t be paid after exiting the jungle. > > Those are the only policies that would induce me to support Labour. > > [Have they dropped the _New_ yet ?] Do you have a link for this? Im not saying you are wrong but I suspect Cameron didn’t say this _exactly_. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612/17 "2015-04-02T19:48:38Z")
Anyone else watching the debate? Fuck me but they’re a useless shower. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612/18 "2015-04-02T20:04:12Z")
Googling, I can only find two times from last year, both more ‘We have learnt’ than outright: but I remember it well enough: the Libs looked pretty jaundiced, and I thought it was later than these, maybe early autumn. _David Cameron is preparing to fight the next general election on a clear promise to the British people not to form a second coalition government even if he falls short of a Commons majority, The Telegraph has learnt._ **[Telegraph 24/02/14](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/10659321/David-Cameron-No-more-coalitions-after-next-General-Election.html)** - David Cameron has privately signalled he is ready to form a minority government if the Conservatives fall short of a Commons majority in next year’s election, the Standard has learned.\* **[Evening Standard 17/07/14](http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron-coalition-lib-dems-govern-alone-minority-government-9611753.html)** In their **[comment](http://www.standard.co.uk/comment/evening-standard-comment-deep-divisions-at-the-heart-of-the-coalition-9611751.html)** the Standard understated it: \*The Prime Minister’s indication that he would, if he found himself without a clear majority after the next election, try to govern without a Coalition, marks a new turn in the already strained relationship with the Liberal Democrats. \* From the first link, Mr. Clegg stood humbly, cap in hand, outside the back-doors of the main parties, saying, ‘I’ll do anything, me.’: \*Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, has publicly said that he wants to remain in power after the election by striking a coalition deal with either of the larger parties. \* By now, old Cameron has cannily weaseled into another position: \*David Cameron has refused to discuss possible coalition deals his party might enter into after the general election, the day after the Labour leader was forced to contradict Conservative party warnings and rule out a formal coalition with the Scottish National party. Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, the prime minister said that if his party fell short of a majority, “you can ask me the next day what I’ll do about it”.\* … \* Both Cameron and the chancellor, George Osborne, have refused to rule out forming a coalition with Ukip after the election, saying they would not comment on any coalition deals. The Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, has said his party would prop up a minority Conservative government if Cameron agreed to hold a referendum in 2015 on Britain’s membership of the European Union. \* … _“I love serving my constituents, I love politics, I love public service, it’s what I care about. It’s a vocation for me. In the unhappy event I’m not prime minister on 8 May, the people of West Oxfordshire, I hope, will stick with me and I’ll stick with them.”_ **[Guardian 17/03/15](http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/17/david-cameron-refuses-to-discuss-post-election-coalition)** I hope they can find a special dedicated single mission as a sinecure for the rest of his life. Probably personally eradicating all encryption from the internet wherever it may be. To protect us all. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612/19 "2015-04-02T20:13:45Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Anyone else watching the debate? Fuck me but they’re a useless shower. Yes, gods help me. Sturgeon is doing well. Miliband is struggling to be both above the other leaders and separate from Cameron. Cameron ditto is not standing out as a cut above. Farage is plumbing the depths. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612/20 "2015-04-02T20:17:30Z")
Don’t just go with my opinion though. ComRes opinion poll: @May2015NS: ComRes/ITV poll—BEST MINUS WORST SO FAR Sturgeon +12% Miliband +11% Clegg +3% Cameron +2% Farage +2% Bennett -14% Wood -16% [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-general-election-may-2015-population-share-version/716612.md?page=2)