SHOCK POLL: Starmer's favourability ratings among his OWN voters should seriously worry the PM

Keir Starmer, YouGov poll showing favourable and unfavourable ratings of politicians

Just a third of Britons (35%) hold a favourable view of the prime minister

PA/ YouGov
GB News Reporter

By GB News Reporter


Published: 04/09/2024

- 15:47

Starmer's favourability rating has continued to fall since becoming prime minister but he remains the most popular politician

As Keir Starmer reaches two months in office his favourability ratings have fallen to his lowest level since February.

A new poll by YouGov measuring public attitude toward politicians found just a third of Britons (35%) hold a favourable view of the new prime minister.


This is the fewest since June and down from 44 per cent after the election.

Furthermore, some 56 per cent of the public now hold an unfavourable view of the prime minister, which is his joint worst figure with YouGov this year.

YouGov poll showing favourable and unfavourable ratings of politicians

This poll shows the favourability ratings of politicians

YouGov


But what is more worrying for the prime minister is that only one in five (19%) Labour voters have a "very favourable" opinion of their leader.

In comparison, more than half of Reform UK voters held a "very" favourable opinion of Nigel Farage due to his very loyal fanbase.

But, despite a fall in ratings, Starmer remains the most favourably viewed politician and party leader.

The pollsters note that instead of Starmer's popularity falling to new depths, the prime minister is just experiencing an end to his post-election honeymoon period and his ratings are unexceptional compared to in the first half of the year.

Meanwhile, the leader of Reform UK, Nigel Farage, has emerged as the second most favourable party leader behind the prime minister.

The survey, which measured the attitudes of 2164 GB adults between August 27 and 28, found just shy of three in ten (28%) of Britons hold a positive view of the Reform UK leader, with 11 per cent holding a "very favourable" opinion and 17 per cent "somewhat favourable."


More Britons have a "very" favourable view of Farage than any other politician which comes from having a highly loyal fanbase among Reform UK voters.

Despite this, Farage remains clearly divisive and the leader is also the second most unfavourable politician after the former prime minister, Rishi Sunak.

In fact, Farage is the only British political figure for whom a majority of Britons (51%) hold a "very" unfavourable view.

The former prime minister Rishi Sunak remains the most unpopular party leader with an overall 70 per cent unfavourable rating compared to only 24 per cent who are favourable.

But the party leader who remains relatively unknown to the public is the leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey with 45 per cent of respondents not holding an opinion on the leader.

Out of those who recognise Davey, a quarter of the public (25%) hold a positive view and some 29 per cent are unfavourable.

The poll also surveyed the Conservative leadership contenders but found that the candidates remain relatively unknown amongst the public.

Half of Britons (48-53%) don't know how they feel about James Cleverly or Kemi Badenock and two-thirds (64-67%) are unsure about Robert Jenrick or Tom Tugendhat. Meanwhile, eight in ten (79%) have no opinion on Mel Stride.

The exception among the contenders is Priti Patel with only 18 per cent not knowing who the contender is but 65 per cent hold an unfavourable opinion of her while 16 per cent are positive.

While it is Tory membership who will decide the leadership contest, it is the public who will ultimately decide their electoral fate.

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