by Sunny Hundal

Results of a new ICM poll for the Electoral Reform Society, published in today’s Independent, show that the campaign to switch to Alternative Vote system is gaining strength.

It found that 56% of people favour the alternative vote (AV), in which voters rank candidates in order of preference, while only 44% want to retain the current FPTP system.

There is clear age divide in preferences. AV is backed by 61% of 18-24 year-olds and 75% of 25-34 year-olds.

But 52% of 55-64 year-olds and 57% of those aged 65 and over want to stick with FPTP.

The problem for the ‘Yes to Fairer Votes‘ campaign is that younger voters are less likely to go out and vote on election day.

There is also a divide by party preference, with Labour voters now mostly for AV.

Conservatives oppose change by a margin of 63% to 37% and Libdems endorse AV by 87% to 13%.

Self-identified Labour voters backed a switch to AV by 60% to 40%.

Previous polls by YouGov have shown that Labour voters were opposed to AV by a small margin. Perhaps the launch of the Labour Yes campaign has changed some minds.

A poll by ICM earlier in December showed similar trends on electoral reform.