A note of caution about resignation polls: while 63% of voters think Maria Miller should stand down, 52% think the same of Nick Clegg, 47% of Michael Gove and 46% of Ed Miliband
Not only has Maria Miller come under sustained pressure from the press and even some politicians to resign over her expenses, opinion polls from other companies have suggested that large majorities of voters think she should stand down.
However, given the unpopularity of politicians in general, this should not come as much of a surprise.
A new YouGov survey finds that unprompted, most people (63%) do indeed think that Maria Miller should resign; however the majority (52%) say the same of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
To minimise the partisan effect, the question specifically states that the politician in question would “be replaced by someone else from their party” upon resignation.
But still, almost half of people (47%) think that Michael Gove should resign (including 25% of Conservative supporters), and nearly the same amount (46%) think Ed Miliband should resign (including 24% of Labour voters).
In fact, of the 10 leading MPs the survey mentions, only three are supported in their job by more people than who want them to resign: David Cameron, Theresa May and George Osborne.
Every other MP the public tend to think should stand down from their role, barring Iain Duncan Smith about whom people are divided 38-37%.
The survey suggests, then, that while significant animosity towards Maria Miller certainly exists, questions about who should resign should be viewed in the context of a bedrock of negativity about politicians in general.
Image: Getty
