Poll finds Blair’s popularity at new low
Just one in four voters trusts Tony Blair, according to a new survey that suggests the Conservatives are rapidly gaining ground against Labour in the popularity stakes.
A YouGov poll for the Daily Telegraph finds that while 73 per cent of voters believed the prime minister could be trusted in October 1997, this has now fallen to 25 per cent.
Less than half of the 2,616 people questioned said they believed he was competent, compared to 90 per cent eight years ago, while only 31 per cent thought he was firmly in charge of government, compared to 79 per cent previously.
The results suggest Mr Blair’s credibility has been severely hit by the recent Commons defeat over anti-terrorism laws and concerns about his plans for education and health reform.
Conservative leader Michael Howard has led calls for the prime minister to step down, describing him “a lame duck”. Mr Blair has said he will leave office before the next election, but is determined to complete the “foundations” of reform before then.
By contrast, the Conservatives appear to be experiencing a revival – 41 per cent of respondents said the party’s reputation was getting better, while 72 per cent said Labour’s was getting worse.
The Tories are now just two percentage points behind Labour on the question of which party people would vote for tomorrow, standing at 35 per cent and 37 per cent respectively.
Despite a highly amicable leadership campaign, more than half (58 per cent) of voters still believe that the Conservatives are a divided party.
But this figure rises to 70 per cent for Labour, following recent backbench revolts. Now just 22 per cent of respondents believe Mr Blair is able to unite the country, compared to 71 per cent this time eight years ago.
Today’s poll comes after a YouGov survey for Sky News yesterday found that four out of ten voters (41 per cent) would pick Tory leadership frontrunner David Cameron over Mr Blair. About 38 per cent would rather the prime minister stayed in charge.
Looking ahead to Mr Blair’s expected successor, the Tories do not fair as well – Gordon Brown leads Mr Cameron by 43 per cent to 38 per cent, while he also commands more support than David Davis, by 46 per cent to 32 per cent.
