The Conservatives appear to be on course to win the battle for marginal constituencies as a new poll revealed they were ahead in 100 key seats.
A poll of key marginal seats has found the Tories leading Labour by 12 points, suggesting that the Conservatives will win an outright majority at the general election.
The Crosby/Textor poll for the Daily Telegraph of 1,394 voters, was carried out in 100 marginal seats; 80 held by Labour and 20 by the Liberal Democrats.
Of those surveyed 43 per cent said they would vote Tory, 31 per cent Labour and 20 per cent Lib Dem.
These are seats where the Conservative vote was just a little behind Labour or the Lib Dems at the last election in 2005.
The Tories need to win 117 seats from other parties to secure a majority of just one seat in a Parliament which will have 650 seats.
The results will delight the Conservatives ahead of this evening's first ever leaders’ television debate.
And the poll predicts that turnout in the marginals seats is likely to be better than many have predicted with 65 per cent of those questioned saying they would definitely vote.
The YouGov daily tracker poll for The Sun today said that the Conservatives had extended their lead over Labour to nine points.
It puts the Conservatives on 41 per cent, up two points on the previous day, with Labour up one on 32 per cent, the Lib Dems down two on 18 per cent and others 9 per cent (-1).
All three party leaders are expected to keep campaigning to a minimum today ahead of tonight's showdown on ITV.
