The October wave of Savanta ComRes’ monthly Political Tracker sees Boris Johnson’s ‘best Prime Minister rating’ down 5pts from September to 39%. This is his lowest rating since January (38%).
This drop comes with a 3pt rise for those who say they don’t know (29%), while Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is up 1pt from September to 32%.
Likewise, our NET favourability rating sees Johnson (-9%) the Government as a whole (-12%) both down 2pts from September, whilst Starmer is up 2pts (-6%).
Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has consistently been way ahead of his Cabinet colleagues, and often the only minister with a positive NET rating. Again in October, the Chancellor’s score is +11%, 16pts ahead of anyone else.
Despite this, Sunak has dropped 2pts since last month, and 19pts since an all-time high for him in September 2021 (+30%).
When asked for their opinion on the party leaders and their policies, our October tracker shows the highest proportion of UK adults since we began tracking who say that they dislike both Johnson & his policies (38%), up 2pts from September. Despite this, the proportion who say that they like both Johnson & his policies (27%) is unchanged since September.
One in six UK adults say that they like Johnson but dislike his policies (18%), whilst just 6% say that they dislike him but like his policies.
However, this increase in dislike for Johnson & his policies does not translate into an uptick for Sir Keir Starmer. Three in ten UK adults say that they dislike both the Labour leader & his policies (29%), up 1pt from September, whilst the 22% who say that they like both Starmer and his policies is unchanged from last month.
One in nine say that they like Starmer but dislike his policies (11%), whilst 15% say the reverse; that they dislike Starmer but like his policies.
Chris Hopkins, Political Research Director at Savanta ComRes said, “The Prime Minister’s falling ‘Best PM’ rating would be a concern if his opposite number wasn’t a) so far behind already or b) seeing his own rating standing so stationary. The narrowing of the gap here to 7pts is in no way down to an improving Labour, and if they’re not already, people are beginning to wonder what Labour’s plan actually is.
“Having toured the country over the summer, and delivered a fairly well-received conference speech, Starmer and his party are nowhere to be seen again, standing still rather than lying in wait, allowing the government to get away without any visible or meaningful plan for the litany of challenges the country faces as we head towards winter.”
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