The public aren’t seeing Brown’s “green shoots”

We’ve been rather starved of opinion polls over the past week, which is probably no bad thing.  But this PoliticsHome poll on the economy has come along to give us at least something to mull over.  And its findings aren’t good news for Labour.

First, only thirty-four percent of repondents think that the economy has turned a corner into recovery.  And, crucially, only 36 percent are willing to give Labour “a lot” or “some” credit for their handling of the recession (down from 40 percent last August).  That’s against 29 percent saying “not very much,” and 34 percent saying “none at all”.

As we saw on Wednesday, Labour is eager to seize on any potential “green shoots,” and sell them as successes for government policy.  This is a risky strategy – not least because of the potential for post-Christmas slippage – but it’s also one of the few left open to Brown & Co.