Boris ‘now as unpopular as Theresa May before she had to Resign’, poll suggests
LABOUR has taken a lead against the Conservatives in a poll carried out since revelations of parties at Downing Street during lockdown.
Boris Johnson’s personal approval rating has also dropped considerably.
The poll, by Opinium, gives Labour a 10-point lead over the Conservatives. Labour had 41% support, up two, while Tory support has dropped further to 31%. It is Labour’s biggest lead since 2013.
Mr Johnson’s approval rating has fallen to -42%, his worst-ever approval rating in an Opinium poll, beating the record he set last week (-24%).
It also matches the worst-ever approval rating recorded for Theresa May around the time of the 2019 European elections.
Two-thirds (64%) disapprove of the job he is doing as Prime Minister, with 22% approving (compared to 54% disapproving and 30% approving last week). Sir Keir Starmer’s approval rating remains stable, with 36% approving and 32% disapproving. Just 21% choose Mr Johnson as their preferred prime minister, with 30% choosing Sir Keir. Last week Sir Keir’s figure was also 30% but Mr Johnson’s was at 27%.
When asked about whether the parties broke rules, 78% think that Downing Street staff did break lockdown rules and 8% say they did not. Answering questions, 76% think Mr Johnson himself broke lockdown rules against 8% who believe he did not, and 13% think Boris Johnson is telling the truth about what happened, while 64% do not.
Almost two-thirds (63%) think Mr Johnson should resign as the Conservative Party leader, while 22% believe he should remain as leader of the party; 30% of current Conservative voters and 48% of 2019 Conservative voters think he should resign. Even among the Prime Minister’s base, 2019 Conservative Leave voters, 46% think he should resign, with 39% thinking he should remain in position.
Adam Drummond, head of political and social research at Opinium, said: “While Boris Johnson managed to win the 2019 election with a net negative approval rating, what we’ve seen in the last month is an order of magnitude worse. The Prime Minister has gone from polarising to unifying, with almost every demographic or political group disapproving of him. This latest figure is the worst we have ever recorded for him and is up there with how unpopular Theresa May was just before she had to resign.
“While Johnson has been unpopular before, he has usually had his base of people who voted Leave in 2016 and Conservative in 2019 whose positive views counteracted the fact that voters for other parties didn’t like him. Now, though, this group are deserting the Prime Minister as well
– 46% of 2019 Conservative Leavers want Johnson to resign versus 39% wanting him to stay on.
“However, while Labour leads in voting intention, their lead is soft and largely down to Johnson’s unpopularity. When we tested possible successors to Johnson, while most of the cabinet got negative ratings, nearly half of people (45%) say they think Rishi Sunak would be a good prime minister, a figure that is higher than both Labour’s vote share and Keir Starmer’s approval rating.”
When asked to pick his successor, only Rishi Sunak achieves a net positive score around making a good prime minister.
Yesterday’s newspapers continued to discuss Mr Johnson’s future. The Sunday Times reports he is planning a “mass clearout” to “save his own skin”.
The paper reports the attempt to save his leadership is known as “Operation Save Big Dog” and that he is planning a host of policy announcements to try to woo disillusioned MPs and voters, which is being dubbed “Operation Red Meat”. That includes a booze ban at Downing Street, a freeze on the BBC licence fee, ands plans to tackle NHS waiting lists and lift all remaining coronavirus restrictions on January 26.