The public blame the Tories for cracking the unity within the coalition government, according to a poll published on Thursday.
A YouGov survey reveals that only 30% of people think the Tories have kept to their side of the coalition deal, while 51% of people think they have not.
By contrast 45% of people think that the Lib Dems have kept to their side of the bargin and 32% of people think they have not.
The poll was published after one of the biggest rows erupted between the Tories and Lib Dems since they came to power in May 2010.
On Monday Nick Clegg confirmed that the House of Lords Reform Bill was to be dropped in the face of unmovable opposition from Tory backbenchers.
In response he said he would order Lib Dem MPs, including ministers, to vote down plans cut the size of the Commons from 650 to 600 seats and re-draw the electoral map.
"I cannot permit a situation where Conservative rebels can pick and choose the parts of the contract they like, while Liberal Democrat MPs are bound to the entire agreement," he said.
However David Cameron has rejected Clegg's suggestion that the Conservatives have broken then contract of coalition, arguing Lords reform was not linked to the boundary review.
"I profoundly believe the link was between the AV referendum that we promised to deliver and the boundary changes," he told LBC radio yesterday.
The boundary review is seen as almost crucial to allowing the Conservatives to be able to form a majority government at the next election as without it they need a double-digit lead over Labour to win.
The latest poll from YouGov showed Labour leading by 9%, with the Conservatives on 33%, Labour on 42% and the Lib Dems third on 11%.
As nervous Conservatives worry that their chances of winning the next election are fading, there has been increased talk of London Mayor Boris Johnson taking over from the prime minister after 2015.
Nadine Dorries, the MP for Mid-Bedfordshire, who ironically will have her seat (and job) rescued by the decision by the Lib Dems to oppose the boundary review, has said Boris will have "no choice" but to challenge for the leadership sooner.
"I think Boris is possibly the only Conservative who, if leading the Tory party could secure us a victory. He's a winner," she tweeted.
The Spectator reports today that Boris has been invited to address the 1922 committee of backbench Tory MPs next month. The topic up for discussion, the magazine notes, is "how to win an election".
And the New Statesman quotes a senior Labour figure, confident that the coalition can be defeated in 2015, as arguing the "biggest threat to our chances now is Boris".
Several Tory MPs hostile to Cameron's leadership of the party have used the internal coalition spat to question the purpose of his premiership.
"Apart from keeping ministers in office, what is the Coalition now for? Time for new agreement, with input from those outside the clique," Douglas Carswell tweeted.
While backbencher Stewart Jackson added: " The Lib Dems have ratted on a solemn promise. What is the point of continuing with Coalition other than to keep Cameron in No 10 at any cost?"
And Conor Burns, who quit as a ministerial aide in order to vote against Lords reform, told the Spectator "some of us now fear that people are more interested in leading the coalition than leading the party they were elected to lead".
Cameron has said he intends to press ahead with a Commons vote on the boundary review in an effort to boost his chances of winning the next election.
However the Lib Dems do not currently appear to be in the mood to change their position, with a senior press officer declaring yesterday: "Boundaries are dead. Kicked the bucket. Shuffled off their mortal coil. Run down the curtain & joined choir invisible. They are ex-reforms."