Voters trust Cameron more than Brown, but Dave wins out on charisma

The survey published yesterday shows support for the Conservatives has slipped further amid signs that people are preparing to give Mr Brown a boost when he takes over from Tony Blair next week.

The findings of a YouGov poll for the Sunday Times suggest voters are waiting to see Mr Cameron and Mr Brown go head-to-head this summer.

But ominously for the Conservatives they give the new Prime Minister a head start by trusting him more on key issues such as tax, health and Europe.

The Conservative lead over Labour is now just two points, its lowest in nine months and back to where it was when Mr Cameron took over as leader at the end of 2005.

Compared to last month, the Tories are down one point to 37 per cent, Labour is up one to 35 per cent, and the Liberal Democrats are down one point to 14 per cent.

The Chancellor's supporters will seize on what the poll has to say about how voters rate Mr Brown compared to Mr Cameron on a range of personal qualities.

Of those suveyed, 49 per cent say Mr Brown sticks to what he believes in, compared to 19 per cent for Mr Cameron.

Mr Brown outscores Mr Cameron on decisiveness, 38 per cent to 12 per cent, on honesty, 23 per cent to 18 per cent, and on strength, 44 per cent to 11 per cent.

The Chancellor and the Tory leader score the same on whether they are in touch with the concerns of other people - 17 per cent each.

On charisma however, Mr Cameron demolishes Mr Brown by 39 per cent to just four per cent. One Tory pointed out: "Four per cent is within the margin of error, so it's effectively zero."

And in a blow to Mr Cameron's attempts to portray the Chancellor as a bully, a majority of voters - 65pc - believe Mr Blair's description of Mr Brown as a "big clunking fist" is a compliment.

The poll also found that voters believe a Conservative government led by Mr Cameron would do more to raise their family's standard of living than a Labour government led by Mr Brown, by 32 per cent to 28 per cent.

But asked to judge which of the two leaders would do better on particular issues, Mr Brown is given the edge on taxation (30pc to 23pc), the NHS (29pc to 22pc), schools (26pc to 19pc), and Europe (23pc to 21pc).

Mr Cameron is given the lead over Mr Brown on immigration (30pc to 17pc) and law and order (26pc to 20pc).