Lib Dems Mocked Online For 'Leading Question' In Somerset Election Poll

The Liberal Democrats will be campaigning in opposition to Britain's departure from the EU during the December 2019 election, attempting to target Conservative seats with Remain sentiments and pull Remain-supporting Conservatives away from the governing Tory Party.

The Liberal Democrats released a constituency opinion poll on Thursday for North East Somerset showing that the party lands as a slight second behind incumbent seat holder and House of Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg.

The poll, conducted by Survation on behalf of the party, showed the leading Conservatives on 38%, the Liberal Democrats on 32%, and Labour on 8%, leading the Lib Dems to call for an alliance to unseat the House leader and for the Labour candidate to stand down.

— Kenny 🔶🌹🔶 getvoting.org (@KennyZantak) October 31, 2019

​However, Twitter users were quick to point out the small print on the survey, where the question put to respondents was "Imagine that the result in your constituency was expected to be very close between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat candidate, and none of the other parties were competitive. In this scenario, which party would you vote for?"

— Jack Seale (@jackseale) October 31, 2019

Some accused it of being a "leading question", as well as a skewed chart scale.

— John Bull (@garius) October 31, 2019

Others even called the polling a "disgrace" and demanded it be made illegal.

— Linda Sayle (@LindaSayle) October 31, 2019

 

— Mike Hind (@MikeH_PR) October 31, 2019

— Damo🌹REGISTER TO VOTE! (@Cornish_Damo) October 31, 2019

— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) October 31, 2019

— Morgan Paulett ✊🌹 #VoteLabour (@MorganPaulett) October 31, 2019

Survation also checked voting intention without the scenario however, which showed the Lib Dems still in second place, only with a much wider distance from the leading Conservatives.

— Britain Elects (@britainelects) October 30, 2019

This would not be the first time the Liberal Democrats were mocked over alleged manipulation of bar graphs. Following the 2019 European elections they were accused of skewing the chart to show that they had won more seats than they did in the actual results.

— Scotland for Bernie (@scotland4bernie) September 9, 2019

— Lewis ± MacKenzie (@LEMacKz) September 10, 2019

​This comes as the UK heads into an early general election on 12 December, which will determine the new parliamentary arithmetic as well as the future of Brexit and Britain's relationship with the rest of the world after it leaves the European Union, now scheduled for 31 January.

The Liberal Democrats will be fighting on the basis of opposition to Brexit entirely and in favour of revoking Article 50. This is contrasted with the Conservatives, who will be advocating Boris Johnson's deal, and the Labour Party who support a confirmatory second referendum.

Remain sentiment has seen the Liberal Democrats garner serious support in recent months, winning the Brecon and Radnoshire by-election from the Conservatives in August and defeating the UK Labour Party in the European Elections in May.