Despite winning the election, the Tories are less popular than Labour

The Conservatives won last week's election despite being less popular than Labour - and indeed all the other main parties bar Ukip.

Polling by IpsosMORI earlier in March showed that when asked how they felt about each political party, 60 per cent of respondents said they did not like the Tories, compared to 33 per cent who did (net -27 per cent).

In comparison, just 40 per cent said they did not like Labour with 52 per cent saying they did like the party (net +12 per cent).

Considering the Conservatives won 6.5 per cent more of the national vote than Labour, could this be another case of "shy Tories" not letting their true feelings be known? Possibly. But there could also be another explanation - one based more in personality politics.

In the same survey, IpsosMORI asked people their opinions of each political leader - with David Cameron being given a net approval of -15 - perhaps not great, but certainly better than Ed Miliband's -32.

Similarly, when asked their opinion on who would be "more capable" at running the economy, 41 per cent of respondents opted for George Osborne with just 30 per cent choosing his now-ousted Labour counterpart Ed Balls.

HT The Good Right

More: How political party membership compares to representatives in parliament