Labour has a 21 point lead over the Conservatives, the largest lead that Opinium has recorded for Labour, the latest poll reveals. Labour has a voting intention of 47% (+1) compared to 26% (-1) for the Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats have 11% (+2) and the Green Party has 6% (no change).
Labour’s lead includes a quarter (25%) of 2019 Conservative voters – up 2 points from 23% last week. Only 60% of those who voted for the Conservatives in 2019 are still voting for Truss’ party, while Labour has held on to 87% of its 2019 voters.
Liz Truss’ approval rating has also dropped by 10 points in just one week, with 64% now disapproving of the job she’s doing and just 16% approving. Her net approval figure (-47%) is now worse than any recorded for Boris Johnson – who reached a low of -44% during Partygate – and Theresa May who reached -46% during the 2019 elections which forced her resignation.
Truss’s figures are also notable for being almost as bad among Leave voters as Remain voters. Among Leavers 61% disapprove while 19% approve, among Remainers 74% disapprove while 12% approve.
Views on whether leaders should stay in charge
Only a quarter (25%) of the UK public think Truss should remain as leader of the Conservative party vs. 53% who think she should resign. Three in five (62%) of current Conservative voters think she should remain, while 24% think she should step down. However, among 2019 Conservative voters, 41% think she should remain, and 39% think she should resign.
Almost a fifth (19%) think Kwasi Kwarteng should remain as Chancellor, while 57% say he should resign.
If Truss was to resign and be replaced by another Conservative, the most popular choice would be Rishi Sunak.
Overall, three in five (61%) think there should be a General Election this year, whereas 25% disagree.
Adam Drummond, Head of Political and Social Research at Opinium said, “The Conservative party conference has not, it seems safe to say, given the Truss administration the boost in the polls it might have hoped for.
“The fact that the prime minister seems determined to avoid up-rating universal credit in line with inflation puts her on the wrong side of public opinion on the issue.
“Even though voters generally like it when politicians U-turn to abandon unpopular policies, the fact that ‘U-turning to abandon unpopular policies’ seems to have defined her time in office so far means that she doesn’t even get the benefit of being seen as principled, her ratings for this are as poor as they are for being competent or being a strong leader.”
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