Opinion polling for the 1950 United Kingdom general election

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Opinion polling for the 1950 United Kingdom general election

Before the 1950 general election, several organisations regularly ran polls to gauge how people planned to vote. The results shown here come from PollBase and cover polls from 1945 up to early 1950. Overall, the polls painted a picture of a very close and shifting contest between Labour and the Conservative Party, with Liberal support usually around the 9–12% range.

What the polls showed (in brief)
- 1945–1946: Labour tended to lead in the immediate postwar period, with Liberal support around 11–13%. For example, 1945 Jan: Labour about 44.5%, Conservatives about 41%, Liberals about 12.5%; 1946 May: Labour about 43.5%, Conservatives about 40%, Liberals about 13%.
- 1947–1948: Poll results were often close or showed small Conservative edges, with Liberals around 10–12%.
- 1949–1950: Polls fluctuated. Sometimes Labour led by a small margin, other times Conservatives did; Labour and Conservative were typically in the mid-40s, with Liberals around 9–12%.

Representative samples from 1950
- 23 February 1950 (Daily Express for News Chronicle): Labour 46.1%, Conservative 43.4%, Liberal 9.1%.
- 17–23 February 1950 (Daily Express for News Chronicle): Labour 44%, Conservative 45%, Liberal 10%.
- 17–22 February 1950 (Gallup for News Chronicle): Labour 45%, Conservative 43.5%, Liberal 10.5%.
- 10 February 1950 (Gallup for News Chronicle): Labour 44.5%, Conservative 43%, Liberal 12%.
- 30 January 1950 (Daily Express for News Chronicle): Labour 42.5%, Conservative 47.5%, Liberal 8.5%.

What this means
- The race was highly competitive, with Labour and the Conservatives often within a few percentage points of each other.
- Liberal support stayed in the single digits to low teens across many polls.
- Poll results varied by pollster and month, showing a shifting public mood as the election approached.

Note: All data in this summary come from PollBase. The article also includes a chart illustrating how these polls changed over time.