MAY CAN’T GET NO SATISFACTION
PM PLUNGES TO NEW LOW IN POLL RATING … NOW EVEN CORBYN IS AHEAD OF HER EXCLUSIVE Available with your Evening Standard today and tomorrow BBC WAGES BACKLASH
THERESA MAY hit a new low today, with a poll showing that her satisfaction rating among voters is the worst for any modern-day Prime Minister immediately after an election.
Just 34 per cent of adults say they are satisfied with Mrs May, with 59 per cent dissatisfied, according to the Ipsos MORI survey for the Standard.
This is her worst result since becoming Prime Minister last summer after the Brexit vote and gives her a net satisfaction rating of minus 25. Far more younger people, aged 18 to 34, than pensioners were unimpressed with Mrs May.
Ipsos MORI has been asking the satisfaction question since 1977. The only other Prime Minister to have a negative rating in the month after an election was Tony Blair, at minus 13 in 2005 amid a backlash against the Iraq war.
Despite the grim findings for Mrs May, she is still seen as the most capable Prime Minister compared with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn — even though he is now ahead in the satisfaction rating. This will reinforce fears among some Labour MPs that despite the support Mr Corbyn has won recently, he may never get into No 10 and the party will remain in opposition for at least another decade. Mrs May’s figures
have plummeted since a poll carried out a week before the June 8 election.
At that point she was already mired in controversy over social care and school funding, for not taking part in TV debates with Mr Corbyn and for her original U-turn to call the election. Her net satisfaction rating then was minus seven.
Adding to her woes today, Mr Corbyn has scored his best rating and overtaken her for the first time. Forty-four per cent of adults say they are satisfied with the Labour leader — just one percentage point less than those who are dissatisfied. This compares with a net rating of minus 11 last month.
Mr Corbyn is winning over people aged 18 to 34 in large numbers — but not mirroring this among people aged over 55.
His doing-a-good-job rating among Labour supporters is also ahead of Mrs May’s among Tories. Three quarters of Labour backers are satisfied with him, compared with almost two thirds of Conservatives for Mrs May.
More than a quarter of Tory supporters are dissatisfied with Mrs May but only 19 per cent of Labour backers have such a view of Mr Corbyn, despite his leadership being under fire just months ago.
However, Mr Corbyn should not get carried away. Despite the dismal satisfaction figures for Mrs May, she is still seen as the most capable Prime Minister by 46 per cent to his 38 per cent.
These results are very similar to those just before the election, but contrast with Mrs May’s 61 per cent to 23 per cent lead at the start of the campaign in April. Approval of the Government has also gone into freefall. Sixty-four per cent are dissatisfied, with 28 per cent satisfied, giving a net rating of minus 36, compared with minus 15 last month.
In Scotland, which voted overwhelmingly to stay in the European Union, dissatisfaction with the Government is particularly high, according to a small poll sample.
Ipsos MORI did not ask the satisfaction question in the month after Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister in 1979. Gideon Skinner, its head of political research, said: “The turnaround in Mrs May’s ratings is unprecedented in our previous data on Prime Ministers — from a historic high at the start of the campaign to a historic low just one month after an election, while also seeing her position among her own party supporters weakening and Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign surge continuing. Having said that, she still has the edge as most capable PM among over-35s.”
The overall findings will fuel already feverish talk of Mrs May being ousted. Cabinet rivals including Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Brexit Secretary David Davis are already seen to be jockeying for position to succeed her.
The headline voting figures for this month show little change from June’s election result, with the parties neckand-neck. Labour is on 42 per cent, up one point, the Conservatives 41 per cent, down two points, and the Liberal Democrats nine per cent, up almost two points.
Ipsos MORI interviewed 1,071 adults across Great Britain between July 14 and 18. Data are weighted.