Public views towards Boris Johnson recovering but half still unfavourable

The latest Ipsos UK Political Pulse survey, taken March 4th to March 7th, shows public favourability towards Boris Johnson recovering to pre partygate levels following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, although almost twice as many Britons remain unfavourable – rather than favourable – towards the PM.

Favourability towards Johnson and Starmer

• 27% of Britons are favourable towards Boris Johnson (+7 points from February) and 52% are unfavourable (-6 points).
• Figures today are comparable to those witnessed in November where 24% were favourable and 51% unfavourable. However, they are still weaker than May 2021 where 40% were favourable and 40% unfavourable.
• 27% are favourable towards Labour leader Keir Starmer (-5 points) and 39% are unfavourable (+1 pt).
• Elsewhere, Rishi Sunak continues to have the strongest levels of favourability of the politicians included in the poll. 36% are favourable towards the Chancellor (+1 pts from Feb) and 33% are unfavourable (+1pt).
• Priti Patel has the comparatively weakest scores, with 51% unfavourable (-2 pts from Feb) and just one in five favourable (20%, no change)

Leadership traits

• This month’s Ipsos Political Pulse asked respondents whether a series of leadership or character traits applied to Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer.
• Johnson’s recovery in favourability scores is reflected in some improvement in his scores for various personality traits too. Compared to February, Johnson achieves increases of four points or more on being ‘good in a crisis’ (+4pts), a ‘strong leader’ (+4pts), a ‘capable leader’ (+5pts), putting  country first (+6pts), paying attention to detail (+4pts) and being a ‘Prime Minister I am proud of’(+4 pts).
• When comparing Johnson to Starmer,
  • Johnson leads Starmer on having a lot of personality (+31pts) and being good in a crisis (+10pts).
  • Starmer leads Johnson on being honest (+23pts), paying attention to detail (+19pts) and being in touch with ordinary people (+9pts).
  • Otherwise, there is little to choose between the two on key leadership attributes such as being a strong leader (Starmer +1pt) or a capable leader (Starmer +3pts).