These are the two things you need to know to predict the UK general election winner
As Labour closes in on the Conservatives, IBTimes UK explains how to read the opinion polls.
Labour have dramatically closed the opinion poll gap over the Conservatives during the course of the 2017 general election campaign. Jeremy Corbyn's party are now just six points behind the Tories, according to the latest Survation survey.
That still means Theresa May is set for a majority on 8 June, but a much slimmer one than if the Tories had maintained their 24 point lead.
However, polling guru Matt Singh, the former trader who correctly predicted the 2015 general election, has said that there are historically just two polling factors people should concentrate on if they want to know the winner of the election: the leaders' ratings and which party does best on the economy.
Unfortunately for Labour, the Conservatives are winning on both.
The latest online poll from ICM, of more than 2,000 voters between 24 and 26 May, put May on 48% and Corbyn on 27%, just above "don't know" on 25%. For economic competence, the Tories scored 41%, whilst Labour was given 21%.
A separate poll from Kantar, of more than 1,200 voters between 18 May and 22 May, gives some hope for Labour supporters, with the party just four points behind the Conservatives (24% versus 28%) for economic competence.
But May, like in the ICM poll, is well ahead of Corbyn on the leadership ratings (38% versus 24%).
On top of that, Queen Mary University's Professor Tim Bale has suggested that voters made up their minds on Corbyn and Labour as far back as 2015.
"You can probably say that by Christmas 2015 most voters had decided that this guy couldn't do the job and they didn't want him to do the job [of prime minister]. If anything, more people have come to that conclusion as time has gone on," he told IBTimes UK.
All in all, the major factors are pointing towards a Conservative victory on 8 June. But stranger things (Brexit, Donald Trump's White House victory and Corbyn's election as Labour leader in 2015) have happened.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.