Nadine: Mid Beds voters ‘less likely to vote for her’ after I’m A Celebrity
According to a private poll commissioned by a senior member of the Conservative Party, 34 per cent of voters in Mid Beds said they were “much less likely” to vote for the MP, who last night was voted off of the reality TV show.
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Hide AdAnother 10 per cent said they were “a bit less likely” to vote for her. Eight per cent of voters were much more likely to vote for her.
The poll was commissioned by Baron Ashcroft and published today on his website. He is a former party treasurer and was deputy chairman for five years.
1,500 adults in Mid Beds were interviewed for the poll by telephone between November 14-18.
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Hide Ad96 per cent of respondents were aware of their MP taking part in the show, and 58 per cent disapproved including 59 per cent of Conservative voters.
Older voters were more likely to disapprove, with a net disapproval of 60 per cent among people aged 65-plus, and 11 per cent disapproval among those aged 18-24.
The poll included some good news for Ms Dorries. 35 per cent of people felt she has been a good MP for the area, including 42 per cent of Tory voters.
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Hide AdBut more than half of voters thought that donating her MP’s salary while she was away did not make up for leaving her Parliamentary duties.
And 57 per cent disagreed with the statement “By appearing on I’m A Celebrity, Nadine Dorries will be able to get more attention for the issues she cares about than she would be able to in Westminster”.
Other results from the poll:
*The Conservatives would still be overwhelming favourites to win the Mid Beds Parliamentary seat if an election took place tomorrow. 51 per cent of correspondents said they would vote Conservative, compared to 53 per cent at the 2010 election. Labour’s vote increased by a half, up to 22 per cent, and the Lib Dems scored 12 per cent. UKIP were up to eight per cent.
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Hide Ad*Voters were asked to rate six different politicians from 0-10, with 0 being “extremely negative” and 10 “extremely positive”. Ms Dorries’ average rating was 2.82, behind Boris Johnson, David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Ed Miliband and UKIP leader Nigel Farage.
*Women rated Ms Dorries less highly than men did. Women were also more likely to have watched I’m A Celebrity.
*Conservative voters were the most likely to watch I’m A Celebrity, and Lib Dems the least likely.