TMP Online

A recent opinion poll commissioned by The Voice newspaper shows that after a noticeable campaign to woo the Black vote, David Cameron’s Conservatives are still struggling to appeal.

51% said they had an unfavourable view of the Conservative leader in the Voice poll, despite the fact that the Conservative Party Chairman, Francis Maude MP, has a fortnightly column in the newspaper which has been well received.  When asked how they would vote at the next election, only 3% said they would vote Conservative. 

The Conservatives acknowledge they still have a lot of work to do but point to the fact they have now selected 8 ethnic minority parliamentary candidates in winnable seats as evidence that they are changing.

The poll also showed that Chancellor Gordon Brown MP, who takes over as Prime Minister later this month, has some ground to make up in terms of his appeal to Britain’s black population too.  The survey found that 40 per cent of Black British people remain to be convinced about the Chancellor. This compares with a 50 per cent favorable rating for the outgoing Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

However Labour sources have pointed to the fact that Brown has the strong support of two of Britain’s three African Caribbean MPs, the Culture Minister, David Lammy and Dawn Butler, the MP for Brent South. They also point to the fact that Brown received rapturous receptions at both the Black Socialist Society and the Labour Party’s Ethnic Minority Taskforce hustings over the last fortnight.

The poll shows that 68% of Black British are of the view that the Labour party takes their support for granted, though many have benefited from measures such as the National Minimum Wage and Sure Start centres (which perhaps explains why 57% are still favourable to Labour and 51% said they would still vote Labour at the next general election).

Following their failure to select a single ethnic minority candidate for their list of candidates for the London Assembly elections in 2008, the Liberal Democrats perform poorly in the poll.  40% have an unfavourable view of Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell MP and only 3% would vote for them at the next general election.

The Voice is now celebrating its 25th year of publication and commissioned Johnson Survey Research Inc to conduct a series of opinion polls among the ethnic population in the UK. These polls were the first in nearly two decades and covered a wide range of issues.

Johnson conducted the survey during mid March 2007 using a sample of 600 Black British. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus three per cent.

The polls will also cover issues relating to education, immigration, crime, spending power and lifestyle issues affecting the black community in Britain community. The results of the poll ‘Black Britain Speaks’ will be published in The Voice, starting today and running for a period of 8 weeks.