New polling suggests the Green Party would receive almost as many votes as the Conservatives if tactical voting didn’t factor in the decision-making process.
Pollster Find Out Now and election experts Electoral Calculus have run a poll for the Independent to see how much tactical voting there might be at the next general election and who would benefit from it.
They found that supporters of smaller parties are most inclined to vote tactically, with 60 per cent of Green supporters say they are likely to vote tactically and 48 per cent of Liberal Democrat supporters say the same.
Only 37 per cent and 15 per cent of Labour and Conservative voters respectively say they would vote tactically.
Respondents were also asked for their first and second preference party in the hypothetical situation that all parties would have an equal chance of winning in their area, to try to measure their true party preference before any tactical considerations.
It found that the smaller parties have more support under this question than they do with FPTP elections.
The Greens have 19 per cent support here, compared with about 5 per cent in voting intention surveys.
The Tories, meanwhile, would receive just 21 per cent.
Related: Labour and Tories neck and neck in Mid Bedfordshire, poll suggests