Voters 'expecting hung Parliament'

More voters are now expecting a hung Parliament than think the Conservatives will win
12 April 2012

More voters are now expecting a hung Parliament than think the Conservatives will win an overall majority in the General Election on May 6, according to a poll.

The Populus survey for The Times put the Tories on 39% (down one point on a similar poll two months ago), Labour on 32% (up two) and Liberal Democrats on 21% (up one).

The poll, taken entirely after Gordon Brown announced the election date on Tuesday, was broadly in line with other recent surveys, which suggest that the Tory advantage over Labour has improved slightly over the last few weeks but remains below the level at which David Cameron could be assured of an overall majority.

According to The Times, today's poll would leave the Tories with 30 more MPs than Labour but 25 seats short of a clear majority in the Commons.

Just 31% of those questioned said they expected an overall Tory majority - down from 43% in February and 55% a year ago.

For the first time, more people said they were expecting a hung Parliament - 39%, compared to 33% two months ago and 19% last year. More than a third of voters (35%) said they thought Labour would be the largest single party after the election, compared with 52% for the Tories.

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