General election: Conservative lead drops two points to 11% - poll
The survey was conducted in the middle of a number of potentially problematic news events for the Conservatives.
Wednesday 6 November 2019 20:39, UK
The Conservative lead has dropped to 11 points, according to the first poll conducted by YouGov for Sky News.
The poll taken yesterday and today cuts the Tory lead by two points compared to the weekend when it was 13 points, a small movement that could nevertheless unsettle Tory candidates.
Sky News/YouGov voting intention puts the Tories on 36%, Labour on 25%, Lib Dems on 17%, Brexit Party on 11%, Greens on 5% and SNP 4%, with Plaid Cymru on 1%.
This comes in a poll of 1,667 Britons taken after Jacob Rees Mogg's comments on Grenfell and the allegations about ex-Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns surfaced, but before his resignation and Boris Johnson's campaign launch outside Number 10.
YouGov is one of a number of pollsters in this election. While all have a Tory lead, some have it at 16% over Labour, while others have it as low as 7%, so this result is broadly in the middle of that range.
The YouGov poll works within a margin of error of 3%, meaning the Tory vote share could be as high as 39% and low as 33%. This in turn means that the drop in the Tory lead over Labour from 13% to 11% in four days is within the margin of error and may not be statistically significant despite worrying some Tories.
The poll shows the voting intention of people who backed Remain in the 2016 referendum are still split almost evenly, with 36% saying they will back Labour and 33% supporting the Lib Dems.
Among 2016 Leave voters, 59% back the Tories and 22% back the Brexit Party.
Tory strategists believe the biggest danger in this election comes if the people who voted to Remain in 2016 choose to rally behind either Labour or the Lib Dems rather than splitting evenly between them, or there is a surge in support for the Brexit Party.
Sky News also asked a number of tracker questions that will be put to voters throughout the campaign.
The Tories are in the lead on the question of which party "best reflects the interests of people like you". The Tories are ahead on 22%, Labour on 17%, Lib Dems on 13%, Brexit Party on 9%, while 20% say none and 13% don't know.
The poll also asks whether Britain should now leave or remain a member of the European Union.
The result is a dead heat: both Remain and Leave on 45%, with 10% saying they don't know.
Mr Johnson's revised Brexit deal - which the prime minister is hoping to sell to the country in this election - does not get an overwhelming endorsement, with 29% supporting it, 38% opposing it and 33% say they do not know.
One in four people who voted to Leave in 2016 say they oppose the Brexit deal, while 47% support and 29% don't know.
The Brexit Election: For the fastest results service and in-depth analysis watch Sky News live from 10pm on Thursday 12 December, with a KayBurley@breakfast election special on Friday 13 December