Hackgate fails to move public opinion towards Labour

By Matthew Barrett
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The above graphic shows that the Hackgate scandal hasn't moved the standings of the political parties in any significant way.

A new ComRes poll conducted for tomorrow's Sunday Mirror/Independent on Sunday puts the parties at:

• Con 36% -1
• Lab 40% +3
• LD  10% -1
• Oth 14% -1 

A small move towards Labour for ComRes compared to their previous polling, but the message is clear: when looking at polling before and after, the News International story has had no big impact on public opinion towards the parties. 

David Cameron's approval rating is the same as in a YouGov poll from when the scandal broke - it was then minus 13, and this ComRes poll puts it at minus 12.

Update: ComRes leadership approval figures:

• "Ed Miliband is turning out to be a good leader of the Labour Party" - Agree 27%/Disagree 41%, or minus 14%, which is an improvement on minus 27% last month
• "David Cameron is turning out to be a good Prime Minister" - Agree 33%/Disagree 45%, or minus 12%, which is worse than his minus 7% rating he had last month

**

A heartening finding for the localist, reforming section of the Party (such as Daniel Hannan, who blogged "Phone hacking scandal: the worse the police have behaved, the stronger the case for elected sheriffs") is this: 

"Directly-elected police chiefs would be more likely to ensure that corrupt officers were brought to justice"

• Agree: 40%
• Disagree: 25%
• Don’t know: 35%