Election fever ramps up

Things are starting go get a little tense now that the new polls are filtering their way through the parties, media and people. A couple of reports/opinion pieces point toward a fierce General Election (once it actually gets going) as well as contrary claims as to who is doing well with the electorate.

“Tony Blair's allies yesterday warned the prime minister that his hopes of winning a secure third term now depend on neutralising Michael Howard's Australian-imported election strategy after the all-but-written-off Conservatives were buoyed by two polls putting them within three points of Labour.”

Source: Blair urged to woo angry supporters as buoyant Tories close gap

“For weeks staff at the Conservative campaign headquarters in London's Victoria Street have been counting the days since the party attacked over asylum and immigration. At first the opinion polls did not shift. But the shadow cabinet was given clear guidance by Lynton Crosby, the campaign director who steered Australia's conservative government to unlikely election victories and who is now the indisputable master of the Tory campaign.

It would take seven days, he said, for an idea to travel from a Westminster policy announcement to the media and then the public. Then it would take at least another seven days for the issue to shift public opinion, then reach the pollsters and finally the newspapers in a published poll.”

Source: How the Tories got back in the game

“Party strategists are struggling to establish the mood of the electorate as the latest poll puts Labour six per cent ahead of the Conservatives. The YouGov poll for the Telegraph puts Labour support up three points since January on 38 per cent, with the Tories slipping two points to 32 per cent, and the Liberal Democrats down one on 21 per cent.

But any new found optimism in the Tory camp will be tempered by the latest YouGov poll which demonstrates the volatility of both polls and voters.”

Source: Poll confusion over Labour lead