You are an undecided voter who watched yesterday evening’s BBC Question Time General Election special. What did you make of it?
If your main concern is ring-fencing the present welfare system or the rise in food bank use, you were probably not convinced by David Cameron – although the tragic bond between his family story and the NHS may have given you pause for thought.
If, however, your main concern is which of the main parties is least to be trusted with safeguarding your living standards – and those of your family – as well as keeping you in work (if you have it), you have reason to have been worried by Ed Miliband.
Miliband was as fluent and committed as he has been throughout this campaign. There is no great mystery about what he is working for: he wants a Britain that is more left-wing. Hence his unambiguous declaration that the last Labour Government didn’t overspend.
This should have bothered our floating voter – as should Miliband’s declaration that in a hung Parliament there will be no deal with the SNP. For if the Labour leader doesn’t reach an accommodation with Nicola Sturgeon’s party after May 7, effective government for his party looks to be a practical impossibly. Was his stage stumble at the end the shape of a fall to come?
At first glance, the Guardian’s ICM reaction poll seemed to run along these lines (see above). It found Cameron to have been the winner. And, indeed, he was forceful, polite, quick on his feet, authoritative and engaged – far more so than during the Paxman/Burley TV event a few weeks ago.
None the less, only six per cent of those surveyed were found to have changed their minds. And they broke more for Nick Clegg than for Cameron, and more for Cameron than for Miliband. A little touch of Cleggmania in the night.
Elsewhere yesterday evening, two polls showed narrow Labour leads. Out there beyond its no-nonsense TV audience (did the complaints of BBC bias have an impact on its selection?) and the self-revering spin room, normal electoral life continues.
Will that undecided voter really go for Cameron, on reflection? Was he impressed by the Prime Minister’s Thatcher handbag moment, as he brandished a copy of Liam Byrne’s fabled note? Will he remember any of it in a week’s time?
Six days to go.