Nick Clegg entertains children at the Imps playgroup in Bristol before the debate

Polls split win between Cameron and Clegg

Polls split win between Cameron and Clegg

By politics.co.uk staff

Instant polls released just after the second leaders’ TV debate split the win between David Cameron and Nick Clegg.

Mr Clegg will be pleased he managed to weather yesterday’s storm by maintaining his impressive poll levels, despite a clutch of damaging headlines about his views, upbringing and financial arrangements.

Mr Cameron will be happy to have improved on what was widely considered a disastrous performance last week, while Mr Brown’s performance in the second debate is general considered to be better than his first.

The state of the polls confirms that the election is still a three-horse race.

A Populus poll for the Times saw Mr Cameron take a narrow victory of 37% over Mr Clegg’s 36% – well within the margin of error. Mr Brown was on 27%.

A YouGov poll for the Sun also gave Mr Cameron a lead, with the Tory leader on 36% next to Mr Clegg’s 32% and Mr Brown on 29%.

All other polls put the Lib Dems in first place.

A Guardian/ICM poll put Mr Clegg on 33%, while Mr Cameron was in joint second place with Mr Brown on 29%.

An Angus Reid poll put Nick Clegg on 33%, Mr Cameron on 32% and Mr Brown well behind on 23%.
Meanwhile, an ITV/ComRes poll put Nick Clegg on 33%, and Mr Cameron and Mr Brown both on 32%.