The latest monthly poll from Ipsos-MORI shows Vince Cable with the best net satisfaction rating amongst the main party leaders.

Caveats apply of course about reading too much into this – it’s one poll, his figures are best by a margin that lies within the margin of error, polling was carried our during Lib Dem conference and best really means ‘least worst’. But it adds to a growing picture of cautiously promising poll findings.

Two particular things are worth noting about the details. First, the 30% satisfied score, which I prefer in many ways to pay attention to rather than the overall net score. That’s because being hated by, say, some Ukip die-hards isn’t really a problem. What matters is if there are enough fans to fuel success. With 30% there is.

Second, the high number of don’t knows which shows that there is still plenty of upside potential. That’s especially relevant as Tim Farron only once hit 30% in the 2015-17 Parliament and never exceeded it although he never realised his similar potential on the upside.

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