Labour wins back social worker vote, finds pre-election poll

Social care professionals look set to return Labour in this week's election with almost half pledging to back the governing party in an online poll by Community Care.

Social care professionals look set to return Labour in this week’s election with almost half pledging to back the governing party in an online poll by Community Care.

The 48% rating for Labour is well above the 34% share received by the party in a poll we conducted before the 2005 general election.

As in 2005, the Liberal Democrats were the second most popular party with 32% of social care practitioners saying they would back them, up from 30% in our previous poll. The Conservatives received 12%, up from 7% in 2005, suggesting  fewer practitioners are planning to back minor parties than in the previous election.

So far almost 1,500 people have taken part in Community Care’s online poll.

The results mark a turnaround for Labour in the eyes of social care professionals. Of those we polled in 2005, over 60% said they had voted Labour in 2001, with its tough policy on asylum and the Iraq war being cited as reasons for deserting the government in 2005.

A Labour party spokesperson said: “Social workers do a crucial and difficult job and support some of the most vulnerable people in our community. We want to continue to invest in social work and support the profession. Together we have achieved a great deal in the last thirteen years. It’s absolutely key that people vote to protect what we have built together.”

The results go against trends in the national opinion polls, which predict the Conservatives will get about 35% of the vote while the Lib Dems and Labour are expected to get about 28% each.

Related articles

Full election news

More from Community Care

Comments are closed.