Opinion polling for the 2010 United Kingdom general election was carried out by various organisations to gauge voting intention. Most of the polling companies listed are members of the British Polling Council (BPC) and abide by its disclosure rules. The opinion polls listed range from the previous election on 5 May 2005 to the election on 6 May 2010.
Graphical summaries Immediately following the previous general election, the Labour Party held a double-digit lead in opinion polls. However, in the latter part of 2005, this lead was eroded somewhat. By December, the Conservative Party showed its first small leads in opinion polls following the controversial 90 days detention proposals and the election of David Cameron as Conservative leader.
In early 2006, opinion polls were increasingly mixed with small leads given alternately to Labour and Conservative. From the 2006 local elections in May, in which Labour suffered significant losses, the Conservatives took a small single-digit lead in opinion polls. This was the first consistent lead of the opinion polls that the Conservatives had enjoyed for 14 years.
Labour regained the lead in June 2007, following the resignation of Tony Blair as prime minister after 10 years and the selection of Gordon Brown as his successor. Brown resisted calls from his party to hold a general election, despite opinion polls suggesting that Labour was capable of being re-elected at this stage.
The Conservatives took the lead once again in November 2007. This grew wider in spring 2008, particularly in response to the onset of the great recession along with the increased unemployment that resulted from it. After a brief narrowing between Labour and the Conservatives in late 2008, the latter's lead widened again following the emergence of the MPs' expenses scandal in 2009. Though Labour slightly recovered in the latter half of 2009, the Conservatives maintained their lead through to election day. In the campaign period, the Liberal Democrats enjoyed a significant and unprecedented surge following the first televised debate of the party leaders, in which their leader Nick Clegg was widely seen as the strongest performer.
Guide to tables Poll results are listed in the tables below in reverse chronological order. The highest percentage figure in each poll is displayed in bold, and its background is shaded in the leading party's colour. The "lead" column shows the percentage point difference between the two parties with the highest figures. When a poll result is a tie, the figures with the highest percentages are shaded and displayed in bold.
National poll results Most national opinion polls do not cover Northern Ireland, which has different major political parties from the rest of the United Kingdom. As mentioned prior, most of the polling companies listed are members of the BPC; however, BPIX is not a BPC member and does not publish detailed methodology and findings.
2010