A poll showing 32% of party members are dissatisfied with David Cameron's leadership is a "protest" at the direction he is taking the party, it has been claimed.
But former senior Tory official Tim Montgomerie, editor of ConservativeHome.Com, said the website's findings did not indicate a desire for a change of leader.
The poll of 1,288 party members - commissioned ahead of Mr Cameron's first anniversary as leader on Wednesday - found that 67% were satisfied with Mr Cameron's leadership, down from 82% in January.
The number of those dissatisfied with his leadership had increased to 32% from 16% in January.
The poll also found that 43% of Tory members said the pace and extent of modernisation had gone too far, while 47% thought it had been about right and 11% wanted still further repositioning.
Asked how likely it was that Mr Cameron would be Prime Minister after the next election, 19% said very likely, 46% said fairly likely, 23% said fairly unlikely and 8% said very unlikely.
The survey also found that 43% of members said that UK Independence Party (Ukip) was the political party closest to their views.
Mr Montgomerie said: "Even amongst the dissatisfied members I sense little appetite for a change of leadership.
"What members are doing through a survey like this is registering a protest at the direction of the party and the leadership's reluctance to talk about the range of issues that worry the public."
