PinkNews reader poll shows London mayoral race too close to call, more support for Tories
A poll of PinkNews.co.uk readers has found the London mayoral election tomorrow too close to call and support for the Conservatives in local elections up considerably since the days before the 2010 general election.
A self-selecting poll of 240 readers and of 216 members of a voting panel eligible to vote in the London elections found that, with first and second preference votes cast, the race was split evenly between incumbent mayor Boris Johnson and former mayor Ken Livingstone.
31 percent of readers and 33 percent of panel members polled gave Mr Livingstone their first preference vote, while Mr Johnson received 29 percent of readers’ votes and 24.5 percent of panel votes.
Of second preference votes under the supplementary vote system the city uses, Mr Livingstone received 21 percent readers and 30 percent of panellist votes to Mr Johnson’s 24 percent of readers and 50 percent of panellists’ votes.
According to PinkNews.co.uk poll, with second preference votes counted, the current and former mayor therefore each had fifty percent of the total.
In the local elections taking place across the country, 25 percent of our sample and 28 percent of readers said they intended to vote Tory.
36 percent of our sample and 34 percent of readers planned to vote Labour.
Asked about how they would choose to vote in a general election, 30 percent of panellists and 23 percent of readers said Tory, while 34 percent of panellists and 41 percent of readers said Labour.
PinkNews.co.uk editor Stephen Gray said: “While our poll indicates that Labour still enjoys a pretty comfortable lead over the Conservatives with LGBT voters, support for the latter has risen considerably since the days of 2010 when a PinkNews.co.uk poll of readers found just 6 percent intended to vote Conservative.
“Boris Johnson actually seems to be more popular with gay Londoners than the Tories are with gay voters nationally, but there’s only one Mayor of London and no prizes for the candidate who finishes second, however close the race.”
Of the last London elections, poll respondents said they voted 45 percent for Mr Livingstone, 25 percent for Mr Johnson and 26 percent for Brian Paddick. Mr Paddick received 18 percent of first preference votes in last week’s poll.
