Starmer and Drakeford top political leaders’ ratings as Tory duo dip in popularity
KEIR Starmer and Mark Drakeford are now the two most popular political leaders in Wales, with Boris Johnson’s ratings having taken a huge knock since April.
The new YouGov poll shows that on a scale of 0-10, with 0 extremely negative and 10 extremely positive, Sir Keir is on 5.6 (+2.3 from Jeremy Corbyn, his predecessor as Labour leader), Welsh Labour leader Mark Drakeford is on 5.1 (+1.1), Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price is at 4.8 (-0.1), Prime Minister and Tory leader Boris Johnson at 4.1 (-1.2) and Welsh Conservative leader Paul
Davies at 3.7 (-0.3).
What needs to be factored in is that in some cases the proportion of “don’t knows” is quite high.
While only 5% (-2) of those surveyed offered no opinion on Mr Johnson, the proportion rose to 24% for Mr Drakeford (-16), 25% for Sir Keir Starmer (+16 from Jeremy Corbyn in April), 55% for Adam Price (+1) and 67% (+3) for Paul Davies.
The poll also asked how a number of political figures were handling the coronavirus crisis.
On a percentage scale with the options of very well and fairly well on one side against very badly and fairly badly on the other, Boris Johnson has slumped dramatically since April to -20 (-54). Chancellor Rishi Sunak is on +28 (-13), UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock is on -18 (-46), First Minister Mark Drakeford on +24 (+17) and Welsh Health Minister Vaughan Gething on +5 (-6).
Professor Roger Awan-Scully said: “Our previous poll, conducted at the height of the ‘rally to the flag’ boost in Conservative fortunes, had shown Boris Johnson as the most popular party leader in Wales – and managing what few politicians ever do, averaging more than 5 on this 0-10 scale.
“His ratings have declined in the last two months – and to an extent that is rarely seen in polling.
“The last time we saw a decline of this scale so quickly in a leader’s ratings in Wales was when the wheels rather spectacularly came off Theresa May’s general election campaign in summer 2017.
“Little of this decline has come from Conservative supporters, among whom he still polls very well. But among other voters his ratings have declined appreciably.
“Thus, we see the 1.2-point fall in the Prime Minister’s ratings across the whole sample replicated among 2016 Leave voters, whom we might expect to be particularly well-disposed to Boris Johnson.”
Prof Awan-Scully said the April poll also had the extraordinary finding that the UK Conservative leader was a full two points higher on personal ratings than the UK leader of Wales’ long-dominant party, Labour.
“Since then not only has Mr Johnson fallen in public favour, but Labour’s new leader has also made a better impression on voters than his predecessor managed in more than
four years as Labour leader,” he said.
“Keir Starmer’s average rating of 5.6 is higher than Jeremy Corbyn ever recorded in any Welsh Political Barometer poll.
“It is also striking that the leader of the opposition’s appeal does not seem to be confined to Labour supporters alone – he also averages above six out of 10 among Plaid Cymru voters, for instance.
“While there is a very long way to go for Sir Keir, and also for his party, he has made a very good first impression on Welsh voters.
“The other striking findings in these results is the improvement in Mark Drakeford’s ratings.
“For his first year and more in the job, it was a consistent finding that not only did many Welsh voters not have a view on him, but those who did were generally fairly unimpressed.
“Now, not only have more Welsh voters begun to be aware of the First Minister, but those with views have become much more positive.
“Moreover, it is not only Labour supporters who are pleased with Mr Drakeford; indeed, Plaid Cymru Westminster supporters rate him every bit as highly as Labour voters do.”