Second Debate, Little Change

Friday 23 April 10

The second round of prime ministerial debates last night saw the three major party leaders come to a draw based on initial polling.  

Current Prime Minister and Labor leader Brown saw the greatest improvement in his performance from the first debate, going on the offensive after being knocked on his heels by Lib Dem leader Clegg and Torry leader Cameron. Cameron failed yet again to fully perform up to expectations, which is surprising considering he is in the best position to unseat Brown as Prime Minister.  Meanwhile, Clegg's surprising success in the first debate has helped put his party in a position to cause a hung parliament in which no party has full power and a co-alition of some sort will likely emerge.

In fact, the results were so predictable that the biggest story to come out of last night's debate was a more than 50% drop in ratings from last week.  Only 4 million people tuned in to Sky, as compared to the 9.4 million who saw the first debate on ITV.  The third and final debate will be next Thursday on BBC 1.

The General Election is May 6.