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Of course it can! If it under-performs it is being judged on that poor performance.An opposition government cannot be judged against its performance it isnt power and therefore not performing.
Being 'in power' is not the only measure of performance.
Similarly, 'not being in power' still requires those politicians, and especially the leaders of the party (shadow cabinet etc.) to demonstrate their ability and willingness to govern, and their policies.
So Yafo is quite correct in stating that a poor performing party that is not in power, does affect the preference for the other parties. Whether that preference is for the governing party or one of the others is irrelevant. Although some may simply decide 'none of the above'.
Come election day, we all make our choice on which party we prefer, based on their performance, as well as their campaign and our allegiance.
To draw a simple analogy, if you are asked for your preference in, say pizza, but you did not really like what was available on the menu, or could not decide, but you thought you needed to make a choice, you would select the one that is nearest to your genuine preference, or the one that you thought would evolve into something you could learn to like.
Or to make another analogy, when you go for your annual performance assessment, you are being judged on your performance, against expected targets, not just your bosses's performance.