Labour is more trusted on the economy and business according to a detailed poll of voter intentions carried out by investment platform XTB. The poll of over a 1,000 stock market investors showed Labour was leading the Tories 60-40 on the economy and 54-46 on the stock market.
On business, voters said sectors including housing, automotive, technology, pharmaceuticals and retail, were more likely to perform better under Labour. The only industry where voters thought the Conservatives would do better was banking.
The results of the poll suggest that Conservative attacks on Labour’s economic policies are failing to cut through.
XTB UK Managing Director Joshua Raymond said: “We were shocked by how strong the pro-Labour feeling is amongst investors. While a lot of people remain undecided on some questions, the overwhelming view is that Labour would be a better custodian of the economy than the Tories.”
Voter attitudes to pensions revealed by the poll were particularly interesting. Asked whether they would feel more confident about their pension plan under a Labour or Conservative Government the majority of voters were undecided, however among those that did express Labour beat the Tories by 5.5 percentage points. However, when the same question was put to pensioners the Conservative Party came out on top, by over 20 points, suggesting Conservative support amongst older generations may be holding up.
On tax, both segments of the polling sample, so those paying into a private pension and those already drawing their pensions, thought tax would be more likely to rise under Labour rather than the Conservatives, however a large proportion of voters said tax would rise whichever party was in power.
Mr Raymond said: “It is clear that voters still trust the Conservatives more than Labour to control taxation. However, what is also very apparent, is that very few people trust either of the main parties when they say that taxes won’t go up.”
Key polling results
Source: Polling was conducted by Find Out Now, surveying 1005 investors on 19 June 2024. Full polling results can be found at https://findoutnow.co.uk/blog/polling-for-xtb/
