Pressure on PM over immigration promises
By politics.co.uk staff
Falling approval ratings will be cause for concern as David Cameron prepares for his second Conservative party conference as prime minister.
A YouGov survey for the Sun newspaper found exactly half of voters thought the Tory leader was doing well as PM, down from 57% in October 2010. The proportion which thought he was doing badly rose in the same period from 36% to 44%.
Mr Cameron is disappointing voters the most on immigration, which topped the poll's list of issues of concern after being named by nearly a third of respondents.
Nearly four in five people said they thought it was unlikely that Mr Cameron would deliver on his immigration promises.
The Conservatives are attempting to honour their manifesto commitment to lower net immigration to the UK "from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands".
Experts say their bid will only succeed if they cut down disproportionately on student immigration, as most migrants come from the EU where free movement of people is permitted.
Right-wing Tory MPs have indicated in the buildup to the party conference in Manchester that they are broadly satisfied with the government's approach to the issue, despite believing that the "tens of thousands" pledge will not be met.
Just 14% of respondents said they thought the prime minister would meet his immigration promises.
The poll also found that just a fifth thought the coalition had gone far enough in tackling the banks.
Sixty-one per cent said ministers had not gone far enough, while just four per cent thought they had gone too far.
