Leave voters, old people and Conservatives have warmed the most to the new president
Despite outrage at the actions that Donald Trump has taken in his first few weeks as president – some of which provoked mass protests across the United Kingdom – new YouGov research reveals that British people have an increasingly favourable opinion of the new US commander in chief.
Last August just 8% of Brits had a favourable impression of The Donald, a figure that increased to 15% in November following his election. Now he is installed in the White House almost a fifth (19%) have either a very favourable (5%) or somewhat favourable (14%) view of the 45th President.
Of course, these figures are still dwarfed by the proportion of people who still have a negative view of Trump. Seven in ten (70%) Britons have an unfavourable opinion of the new president (including 56% who hold a ‘very unfavourable’ view), putting Trump’s net favourability score at -51.
Trump’s favourability has improved across all sections of society, but it has increased the most among Leave voters (34% – up 19 percentage points since August), the over-65s (27% – also up 19 percentage points) and Conservatives (26% – up 18 percentage points since last summer).
UKIP voters remain the group with the most favourable view of the new president, with 46% saying they have either a very or somewhat favourable view of him (up 15 percentage points since August).
Corbyn continues to decline
On the domestic front, Theresa May remains the only British politician surveyed that has a net positive favourability score (+6). Slightly under half (46%) of people have a favourable view of the prime minister whilst four in ten (40%) hold an unfavourable opinion.
The results are much worse for Jeremy Corbyn, with the Labour leader's favourability ratings falling for the third successive time.
When this question was first asked in August 2016 Corbyn was embroiled in his second Labour leadership election, and his net favourability score was -25. In the six months since, it has declined further to -40. More than six in ten (62%) people now hold an unfavourable view of the Labour leader compared to 22% who have a positive one.
The Conservatives maintain relatively strong favourability scores - 38% of Brits have a positive opinion of the party (although more have a negative view meaning its net favourability score stands at -10). The party’s favourability has been slowly increasing since August, experiencing a notable improvements among 2015 UKIP voters, the over-50s and working class people (i.e. those in the C2DE social grades).
Labour, on the other hand, haven’t seen their favourability ratings change much since August, with the party languishing on a net favourability score of -29.
Photo: PA
