This is a couple of days old, but I missed it the first time, except for the statistic about Tory voters not knowing the party leader's name. So if there's despair in California at voters, there's still a chance of sanity in Britain.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=450402"The NOP poll for The Independent shows that 41 per cent of voters now think that the Liberal Democrats are the real opposition to Labour, compared with 39 per cent for the Tories. Twelve per cent felt that neither offered real opposition, and 8 per cent didn't know.
When asked to name the leader of the Tories, just 53 per cent of all voters and 71 per cent of Tory supporters correctly identified him. Some 45 per cent of all voters didn't know he was the leader and 28 per cent of party supporters were similarly unaware of him. Two per cent of the public even believed that William Hague was still leader."
"A YouGov/Sky News poll published today will also spell bad news for the Tory leader. A majority of those questioned (57 per cent) said Mr Duncan Smith was the wrong person to lead the Conservative Party. But he will be buoyed by another of the polls' findings. When asked if they were more likely to vote Tory if Mr Howard, Mr Portillo or Mr Clarke were leader, most (66 per cent, 51 per cent and 51 per cent respectively) said it would make no difference."
ie the Conservatives are stuffed whoever's in charge.