Current Affairs

ComRes poll places UKIP second in EU voting intentions poll

Jan 14 2013
Written by Joseph McCormick

ComRes, the same polling organisation that found that a majority of UK residents are opposed to equal marriage, despite other polls suggesting the opposite, has published a new poll which places the UK Independence party second in the rankings for the European Parliamentary elections.

The poll, which took a sample of all UK adults, said that UKIP was the second most popular political party, with 23% of the vote. Results showed that Labour led with 35% and the Conservatives were just behind UKIP with 22%.

The Liberal Democrats came last with just 8% of the vote.

UKIP have faced controversy recently, as it removed the chairman of its youth wing, Young Independence, in part due to his support for marriage equality.

Then, just days later, a UKIP Parliamentary candidate was forced to resign following his support for equal marriage.

The party today put the UKIP Chairman for Oxford under review after she compared homosexuality to bestiality and paedophilia on the official members’ forum of the party’s website

In November, the UK Independence Party restated its opposition to equal marriage rights for gay couples.

Published on the same day, a UK YouGov poll commissioned by the Sunday Times found that UKIP placed forth with 8%, behind the Liberal Democrats who got 11%. Labour was still in the lead with 44%, and the Conservative party was second with 31%.

A ComRes poll for the anti-gay Coalition for Marriage last week showed that three quarters of Conservative peers and 67% of cross-bencher peers surveyed said the government should call a halt to its plans to introduce equal marriage.

In the past year, ComRes have published several polls showing contradictory results over the issue of equal marriage. The vast majority for C4M have shown public opinion to be against equal marriage.

Yet, on Boxing Day, ComRes released a poll commissioned by the Independent showing that 62% of people believe the Church of England should host same-sex marriages.