Recovery in Clegg’s ratings amongst party members confirmed but not back to 2010 levels

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 564 party members responded, and we are publishing the full results here over several days.

As 2011 comes to an end, Liberal Democrat party members surveyed by Lib Dem Voice continue to back Nick Clegg, being in coalition and the government’s overall record. Support has generally increased a little during the year, but is still well below its levels in the second half of last year before tuition fees dominated the political agenda towards the end of 2010.

For Nick Clegg himself, 65% of members said they are satisfied with his performance as party leader, with the net score of +32% confirming the recovery from the lows of +19% and +17% early in 2011. The recovery still has some way to go to return to the net scores of over +60% he scored in the summer of 2010 however.

Just under two-thirds (64%) also think the party is on the right track, with the net score of +37% being typical for the scores through the year, though again down on the summer of 2010.

By contrast, approval for the coalition government’s overall record to date is, at a net +41%, nearly back to the levels of 2010 save for the immediate post-coalition survey. Similarly, 81% of party members support the party being in coalition with the Conservatives, with a net score of +68% also only slightly off the 2010 levels.

Given the recent olive branches towards the Liberal Democrats from senior Labour figures such as Douglas Alexander and Ed Balls, the views that party members have of Ed Miliband is of increasing relevance. So far, they are not impressed. Only 9% think he is doing well; 87% think he is doing badly. David Cameron comes out much better: 51% think he is doing well and 43% doing badly, although of course in both cases that is not necessarily a reflection of the degree to which party members agree with what they are doing.

• Over 1,200 Lib Dem paid-up party members are registered with LibDemVoice.org. Some 564 responded to the latest survey, which was conducted between 9th and 13th December.
• Please note: we make no claims that the survey is fully representative of the Lib Dem membership as a whole. However, LibDemVoice.org’s surveys are the largest independent samples of the views of Lib Dem members across the country, and have in the past accurately predicted the winners of the contest for Party President, and the result of the conference decision to approve the Coalition agreement.
• The full archive of our members’ surveys can be viewed at www.libdemvoice.org/category/ldv-members-poll