Five big doubts that voters have about Labour...

By Tim Montgomerie
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Over on ToryDiary I list ten key findings from Lord Ashcroft's latest poll of more than 8,000 voters.

On today's Comment pages Lord Ashcroft overviews the overall message of his poll - focusing on the strategic choice facing Ed Miliband - should he choose to be a hawk or a dove on the central economic issue of our time - the deficit.

In this third blogpost on the survey I'm zeroing in on the big weaknesses that the poll reveals about Labour's electoral position and what the Tory operation would be wisest to target...

In terms of attacking Labour there appear to be five key weaknesses for those voters who are considering supporting Labour but haven't yet made up their minds:

1. 48% say "They have not made clear what they would do to improve things";
2. 40% say "They might spend and borrow more than the country can afford";
3. 34% say "They might not have learned the right lessons from their time in government";
4. The same proportion 34% say "if Labour won, Ed Miliband would be Prime Minister"; and
5. 19% worry about Labour's "strong links with the trade unions".

It is interesting that Ed Miliband is the fourth weakness - not, it seems, as potent as Labour's vulnerabilities on the deficit and their general vagueness.

Here is the exact question asked (click on image to enlarge);

Go to Lord Ashcroft polls for more detail.