1970 general election

Held on 1970-06-18. The result below is the official outcome; underneath it, where we hold the polls, is how close each pollster’s final poll came.

Result

Party	Share (%)
Conservative Party	46.2%
Labour Party	43.8%
Liberal Democrats	7.6%

How the final polls compared

Each pollster’s last poll in the 30 days before this election, and how far it was from the result. Only parties the pollster reported are counted.

Pollster

Final poll

Days before

Parties scored

Difference

ORC

1970-06-13

1.0 percentage points

Party	Poll	Result	Difference
Labour Party	45.5%	43.8%	+1.7 percentage points
Liberal Democrats	6.5%	7.6%	-1.1 percentage points
Conservative Party	46.5%	46.2%	+0.3 percentage points

Harris

1970-06-14

2.3 percentage points

Party	Poll	Result	Difference
Labour Party	48.0%	43.8%	+4.2 percentage points
Liberal Democrats	5.0%	7.6%	-2.6 percentage points
Conservative Party	46.0%	46.2%	-0.2 percentage points

NOP

1970-06-12

2.6 percentage points

Party	Poll	Result	Difference
Labour Party	48.2%	43.8%	+4.4 percentage points
Conservative Party	44.1%	46.2%	-2.1 percentage points
Liberal Democrats	6.4%	7.6%	-1.2 percentage points

Gallup

1970-06-14

3.2 percentage points

Party	Poll	Result	Difference
Labour Party	49.0%	43.8%	+5.2 percentage points
Conservative Party	42.0%	46.2%	-4.2 percentage points
Liberal Democrats	7.5%	7.6%	-0.1 percentage points

Marplan

1970-06-11

3.9 percentage points

Party	Poll	Result	Difference
Labour Party	50.2%	43.8%	+6.4 percentage points
Conservative Party	41.5%	46.2%	-4.7 percentage points
Liberal Democrats	7.0%	7.6%	-0.6 percentage points

How this is measured: for each past election we take each pollster’s last poll in the 30 days before polling day and compare it, party by party, with the result. The figure is the mean absolute difference across the parties that appear in both. Only parties the pollster actually reported are counted. A late shift in opinion is not the same thing as a polling error.