With under three weeks to go until polling day, it’s a little late for Rishi Sunak to change his mind on calling an election. But a majority of our panel believe that the Prime Minister was wrong to call the election for July 4th – and feel their association was not ready to fight it. Moreover, only seven in ten of those surveyed were sure they had a candidate in place the 22nd of May.
This isn’t the first time the ConservativeHome survey has poured scorned on Sunak’s electoral tactics. Even if members thought a move against him post-locals would have only been to the party’s detriment, two-thirds believed CCHQ was wrong to be pursuing an 80/20 strategy and targeting Labour seats. Perhaps they accepted earlier than Number 10 the shellacking we are headed for.
Either way, a majority – 58.70 per cent – of our panel oppose Sunak’s decision to call the election for July 4th, with only under a third – 31.24 per cent – supporting it. Having previously advocated calling a summer election on the assumption things could only get worse, I expect those numbers have been influenced by the campaign’s course: from its rainy start to the D-Day debacle.
Similarly, under three in ten – 28.64 per cent – of those surveyed believe their association was ready to fight the election. Since the election date surprised everyone from the Cabinet down, this can only be expected. The subsequent row over candidates, allegations of CCHQ arrogance, and the general incompetence of the party machine will only add to impressions.
Finally, only adding to the impression of chaos, only seven in ten – 71.85 per cent – of the panel were certain their constituency had a candidate selected by the time the election was called on May 22nd. 13.33 per cent reported their association did not have a candidate in place, whilst 14.81 per cent were unsure. Pax George Orwell, perhaps some of our panel are more active than others.
Even if so, many will currently be out doing the political Jehovah’s Witness routine, campaigning in an election they think is ill-timed and for which they were unprepared. This is hardly likely to put Sunak at the top of their Christmas card lists. Perhaps that honour will go to their new golden boy – one Nigel Farage. Number 10 really doesn’t like to make life easy for itself, or our survey.
The post Our survey. A majority of our panel disagree with Sunak’s decision to call the election for July 4th. appeared first on Conservative Home.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: William Atkinson
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, http://www.conservativehome.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.