The Evening Standard, LBC radio and London Tonight have just commissioned an opinion poll about who Londoners think should be the next Mayor of London.

Normally in voting intention polls, the question about who to vote for is done first, in order to get an accurate indication of who people plan to support, and then followed by questions about specific issues.

Instead, the Evening Standard poll started by asking people about Tube Strikes and Boris Johnson’s proposals to make it harder to strike, then a couple of questions about the Liberal Democrats.

And then it asked whether people agreed with Boris that London should be protected from cuts, and only then asked about voting intention, giving the options of Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone or Oona King.

Unsurprisingly, having reminded people of two of Boris’ most popular policies before asking people who they plan to vote for (and giving a choice of two different opponents to split the main opposition party vote), they found that 45% supported Boris, 27% Ken and 9% Oona, with 19% choosing “none of these”.

This poll is worthless as a record of who Londoners plan to vote for – except that it shows that Ken is a stronger candidate than Oona.

But if Boris Johnson was really ahead of Ken Livingstone in his bid for re-election, his media cheerleaders wouldn’t need to spend their money on dodgy opinion polls.

The fact that, nearly two years before the election, they are trying to use dodgy stats to suggest Boris is winning is a sign of panic, not strength.

Reader comments

1. Liberal Conspiracy

   London media rig poll to boost Boris http://bit.ly/cP0SRA

2. Don Paskini

   RT @libcon: London media rig poll to boost Boris http://bit.ly/cP0SRA

3. 5 Chinese Crackers

   RT @libcon: London media rig poll to boost Boris http://bit.ly/cP0SRA

4. Dan West

   RT @libcon: London media rig poll to boost Boris http://bit.ly/cP0SRA

5. Media Feed

   RT @libcon: London media rig poll to boost Boris http://bit.ly/cP0SRA

6. Dilwyn’s Daily Digest – Tuesday 21st September 2010 « Aled-Dilwyn Fisher

   [...] Liberal Conspiracy shows that the way the poll was rigged means that Ken and Labour may have even more cause for [...]

7. Why the London Mayor race might be harder for Ken than expected | Liberal Conspiracy

   [...] Paskini has already pointed out that the poll yesterday by the Evening Standard and LBC was flawed. Nevertheless, I don’t think it [...]

8. andrew

   London media rig poll to boost Boris | Liberal Conspiracy: Liberal Conspiracy · Home · Westminster Unions Media Ac… http://bit.ly/bs8y1L

9. Tom Miller

   *Sigh* OK, @standardnews poll which came out against Laobur mayoral candidates was a 'push poll'. http://tinyurl.com/3236eek

10. Thomas Williams

    @adebradley The Standard poll was a push-poll. Utterly discredited. http://is.gd/fn8F9