A new ICM poll in the News of the World asks a number of questions comparing Gordon Brown and David Cameron. As with recent YouGov polls, Brown is preferred to Cameron in a straight choice of who would make the better PM, though he has a larger 12 point lead. This is likely to be because best Prime Minister questions are strongly influenced by party allegiance, and the questions seem to have been asked as part of a standard ICM omnibus poll, which doesn’t weight by past vote unless there are voting intention questions.

The other questions paint what is becoming a fairly familar pattern in polls on Cameron and Brown. Cameron’s strength is in areas like being presentable, helpful, likeable (he has a tiny, but not significant, lead as the man people would rather have dinner with), more likely to buy a round and less arrogant than his opponant. Brown on the other hand is seen as the more trustworthy, more competent (people think he would be better able to manage a family budget) and most in touch.

Filed under: ICM