Johnson more popular with low-paid than with the rich
THE Conservative Party is more popular among the nation’s lowest earners than it is with the highest, a report has found.
Research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation think tank found 45 per cent of the poorest Britons voted for Boris Johnson in 2019, while 30.6 per cent on low pay backed Labour.
Only 40 per cent of top earners supported the Tories, with 30.8 per cent of the country’s richest voting for Jeremy Corbyn.
The report deduced that the Conservatives were “no longer the party of the rich”, while Labour was “no longer the party of the poor”.
It stated: “The Labour Party that Sir Keir Starmer recently became leader of is today just as popular among the wealthy as it is among those on low incomes.”
In last year’s general election, Labour lost about one in three voters on low pay, and most – the lowest earning fifth of the population – moved directly across to vote Conservative.
The report, by Matthew Goodwin, of
Kent University, and Oliver Heath, from Royal Holloway University, London, found Mr Johnson’s promise to “level up” the nation, combined with his support for Brexit helped win such voters.
However, the report stressed that the Tories would “need to work hard to retain that support”.
Prof Goodwin said: “Most of the Conservatives’ new votes from low-income voters came directly from Labour, with key factors including Brexit, negative perceptions of Labour’s leadership and economic plans, and a Conservative advance among working-class voters, pensioners and non-graduates. Both parties now need to work hard to appeal to this group, which is badly affected by the coronavirus crisis.”
Labour support fell among the lowpaid after 2017, when 53 per cent had backed Jeremy Corbyn. However, even then, Tory support was at 33 per cent, the highest since the Thatcher era.
The report warned that the Tories should not become complacent about its newfound support, as those earning the least were facing a “double injustice” – from coronavirus and from the “worst economic effects of the Covid-19 crisis”, the report stated.