Over 50 per cent of voters would “definitely” not support the Conservatives at the next election, a new poll has found.
The polling, conducted by YouGov for strategy consultancy WPI, also suggests the party is seen as too right-wing on the issues that matter most to the public.
Those polled were found to be more aligned with Labour in areas they cared most about, including spending on public services. The only area in which voters said the Conservative would spend more was defence, which was low down voters’ priorities.
It comes after another YouGov poll recorded Rishi Sunak’s lowest approval rating since he became prime minister, with only 26 per cent of voters having a favourable opinion.
Only 26 per cent of voters having a favourable opinion, with just under 40 per cent of Conservative voters in 2019 saying they had an unfavourable view of Sunak and the party.
It means Sunak’s approval ratings are lower than those of Boris Johnson at the point at which was forced from office. However, the prime minister is still more popular than the party he leads.
The research set out to gauge voters’ politics by asking them on a scale of one to ten to say how closely they agreed with a number of statements.
Voters characterised themselves as 4.6 out of 10 on a scale with zero as left-wing and ten as right-wing. Sir Keir Starmer was deemed by voters to feature at 3.9 per cent and Sunak on 7.3 per cent. The data suggests those polled saw Starmer’s values as more closely aligned with their own.
The poll also found that 54 per cent of voters would “definitely” not support the Conservatives at the next election compared with 32 per cent who said the same of Labour.
The Conservatives have a negative approval rating of -48 while Sunak has a negative approval rating of -41.
In contrast Labour is more popular than Starmer. Starmer has a negative approval rating of -20 compared with Labour’s approval rating of -11.
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