Public support for Conservative education plans is slipping away, a poll has suggested.
The poll, conducted by ComRes for the BBC's Newsnight programme, found that 25% of the public said the party had the best education policies - a drop of 10% since August 2009.
And a plurality of voters (45%) disagreed with the statement that "the education system would be better under the Conservatives." Only 38% agreed.
Little of this shift in support seems to have benefited the government, however.
Support for Labour's policies is up just two points to 27%, pushing them only slightly ahead of the Tories.
And sizeable majorities felt that the government has not used increasing education spending effectively (67%), or created the right balance between central and local control (64%).
Support for Liberal Democrat education policies, meanwhile, has dropped five points to 10%.
The group that has most benefited from the loss in Tory support is the “don’t knows”. The number who are undecided has climbed 10 points to 26%, suggesting increasing uncertainty about the best way forward.