*Greens rise 3% with YouGov in last six months
*British political landscape is fracturing
*Greens' membership up 66% in 2014
The Green Party’s average polling score with pollsters YouGov has risen by three percentage points in the last six months (1). The polling uptick is mirrored by soaring Green Party membership in 2014.
The Greens are “gaining ground” in the polls and one of the “wild cards” to watch in the 2015 General Election, according to leading pollster Peter Kellner, writing today in the Guardian (2).
Last week, the Greens out-polled the Liberal Democrats for the first time in a decade (3) in a poll ahead of a General Election. On May 22, the Greens outperformed the junior Coalition partners in the European parliament elections both in terms of total vote and MEPs returned (4).
Kellner’s article acknowledges that “British politics has fractured” and that the rise in support for the Greens, who “represent real forces and articulate real passions”, is reflective of this "new political reality."
The Green Party’s polling surge is mirrored by steeply rising membership in 2014. Over 1000 new members have signed up in the last ten days meaning the Green Party of England and Wales now has over 23,000 members. Since the start of 2014, membership has risen by a staggering 66.6%.
2 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/27/green-party-2015-ukip-protest-vote-general-election/print
3 http://lordashcroftpolls.com/2014/10/ashcroft-national-poll-con-28-lab-31-lib-dem-7-ukip-18-green-8/
4 http://greenparty.org.uk/news/2014/05/26/european-elections-greens-gain-50-more-meps,-push-liberal-democrats-into-fifth-place/