Tuesday 10 April 2012

Daily Telegraph: Never Mind the Pollocks

'The majority of Conservative MPs believe David Cameron’s same-sex marriage plan is doomed to failure and is a source of deep concern for their constituents.
'An all-party poll of MPs found only 56 per cent believed the proposal to legalise same-sex marriage would succeed, with 41 per cent of Conservatives believing it. Almost as many Tory MPs (37 per cent) believed the proposal will fail and 22 per cent said they were unsure, the survey carried out by ComRes found.
'It means that three out of five Tory MPs have doubts that the plan will go ahead. By contrast, more than two thirds of Labour MPs and almost all Liberal ­Democrat members polled were confident that it would go ahead.
'The poll also found that 60 per cent of MPs did not think that the policy was of “significant importance” to their constituents. Among Tory MPs the proportion rose to 69 per cent...'

The Daily Telegraph
The fact that this is in the serial gay-marriage bashing Telegraph should be enough to set alarm bells ringing.
That the "poll" was conducted by ComRes for Coalition For Marriage means it should be taken with a mine of salt.
They've been incredibly mendacious with their marriage equality poll findings before.
Note also how the Telegraph has inverted the news - that a majority of MPs believe the proposal to legalise same-sex marriage comes after how a majority of Tory MPs thought it was "doomed to failure".
And the opening line; "The majority of Conservative MPs believe David Cameron’s same-sex marriage plan is doomed to failure and is a source of deep concern for their constituents", is contradicted by the fact that 69% said they did not think the policy was of "significant importance" to their constituents". 
Another thing that stands out is the omission of the obvious question of how many MPs polled support gay marriage.
ComRes tell me that only 154 MPs replied to their survey - that's less than a quarter - more data later...

Update: Here are the full findings. As above, the questions asked - and not asked - are absolutely ridiculous.

PS The Telegraph runs a companion piece 'The Tory party has lost sight of its true values: 'Decontaminating’ the brand has alienated voters – but there is a way back' which, curiously, does not mention gay marriage explicitly. 

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