Half of Britons say Boris Johnson has done a bad job as Prime Minister

New polling from Ipsos UK, conducted online between 9-10 February 2022, shows that half (54%) of Britons think Boris Johnson has done a bad job as Prime Minister to date, whilst just three in ten (29%) say he has done a good job.

Mr Johnson’s ratings have fallen from when the public were more divided in February 2021 (when 37% said good job vs. 41% bad job).

This decline in his ratings is also observed among 2019 Conservative voters. Half (54%) still believe he has performed well as Prime Minister, but this is down from seven in ten (69%) last February. Meanwhile, the proportion saying he has done a bad job has nearly doubled (going from 15% to 29%).

More than half (56%) of the public support Conservative MPs triggering a vote of no confidence in Boris Johnson’s leadership by submitting letters to their party’s 1922 Committee. Only one in four (24%) oppose this. These numbers are practically unchanged from earlier this month (57% support, 22% oppose). Conservative voters from 2019 also remain split with two in five (43%) opposing a vote of no confidence, against another two-fifths (39%) supporting one.

However, Britons are uncertain whether Conservative MPs will actually trigger a vote of no confidence. Two in five (41%) think it is likely (+5 since the start of February), whilst a third (34%) think it is unlikely (-5).

Keiran Pedley, Director of Politics at Ipsos UK, says: “The data continues to show Boris Johnson’s personal poll ratings weakening, with a majority of Britons now saying he has done a bad job as Prime Minister and a majority supporting the concept of Conservative MPs triggering a vote of no-confidence in his leadership. What happens next will likely be decided by events, as police investigations draw to a close and other items move up the news agenda”.