What the public really think about Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party conference speech
The Independent's focus group shed some light on how the public might have received the keynote speech
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Your support makes all the difference.Jeremy Corbyn speech was met with rapturous applause in Brighton’s conference hall, with the party faithful sure Labour has an election-winning formula and is on the march to Downing Street.
But if public views reflect those of The Independent’s new focus group organised by pollsters BMG Research, the newly confident party still has questions to answer about its policies and its leader.
Immediately after the speech BMG conducted two in-person discussion groups that were balanced by balanced by age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic background and political partisanship.
“He frightens me,” one woman told researchers, as she claimed that younger generations do not understand what Jeremy Corbyn really stands for.
When younger members of the group are asked, they say it is exciting how more people are “engaged” with politics than ever before and that Mr Corbyn is speaking up for their generation.
The divide is apparent when they discuss Mr Corbyn’s highlighting of the abuse suffered by Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott during the election campaign, with older members pointing to her “incompetence”, while young ones highlight the vile abuse that can be suffered on social media.
But the difference is most stark when the group talks about Mr Corbyns plans for housing, with younger members complaining that they are having to stay living with parents and have no hope of buying, while older members reveal they are second home owners and complain about the idea of rent controls.
A rare moment of unity occurs when people are asked whether they disagree with a statement that Mr Corbyn and Labour would do a better job of running the economy – with almost all but one younger member disagreeing.
The groups will also be watching Theresa May's speech at Conservative conference, to be delivered in Manchester this week.
Source note: On Wednesday 28th September 2017 BMG Research conducted two in-person discussion groups for the Independent, just a few hours after Jeremy Corbyn finished delivering his 2017 party conference speech. Highlights and key moments were shown to participants who were asked for their reaction, before themes relating to the content of the clip were explored in more detail. Groups were balanced by age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic background and political partisanship. All participants resided in the West Midlands. Groups were recruited, moderated, recorded and final results analysed by BMG Research. Full details can be found at www.bmgresearch.co.uk/independentdiscussions.
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