Only 8% of Britons believe Ed Davey looks like a prime minister in waiting, with just 17% believing a Lib Dem government would do a good job running the country
It’s been a reasonably good year for the Liberal Democrats: they beat the Conservatives in both votes and seats in this May’s local council elections and have consistently polled between 14-17% in YouGov’s voting intention. But the party still has undeniable weaknesses: just 37% of Britons can correctly identify a picture of their leader Ed Davey.
So, ahead of the party’s annual conference this weekend, how do Britons see the Lib Dems?
Do Britons think the Lib Dems are ready for government?
One of the biggest hurdles for the Lib Dems is being seen as an opposition party. While more Britons might have a favourable opinion of them (36%) than of the Conservatives (23%), Labour (24%) or Reform UK (31%), Ed Davey’s party just isn’t seen as ready for government.
Only 9% of Britons believe the Lib Dems are ready to lead a government, with a further 20% of the public feeling they are ready, but only as a junior partner of a coalition. This compares to 48% of Britons saying the Lib Dems are not ready for government.
Even among Lib Dem voters, just 67% feel the party they backed last year is ready for government in any form, including only 30% believing it is currently in a state to lead a government. One in six Lib Dem voters (17%) say the party are not ready to be in government.
Furthermore, only 8% of Britons believe Ed Davey looks like a prime minister in waiting, including just 17% of Lib Dem voters. This compares to 51% of Britons, and 44% of Lib Dem voters, saying Davey does not look prime ministerial.
While not the greatest vote of confidence in the party, this does compare to only 9% of the public viewing official opposition leader Kemi Badenoch as a prime minister in waiting, with 64% saying she is not fit for the highest office.
If the Lib Dems were able to form a government after the next election, one in six Britons (17%) think they would do a good job of running the country, alongside a further 27% who believe they’d do an average job. A third of Britons (33%), however, feel they’d do an outright bad job in charge.
Half of Lib Dem voters (50%) expect a Lib Dem government would do a better than average job at running the country, with 10% expecting they’d do a bad job.
In which areas do Britons trust the Lib Dems?
When it comes to the areas on which the Lib Dems perform best in the public’s eyes, a third of Britons (33-34%) say they have at least a fair amount of trust in the Lib Dems when it comes to protecting minority groups, the environment, the NHS and running local councils. That said, in all four cases, more Britons (39-45%) say they have little to no trust in the party.
Nearly three in ten Britons (29%) also say they trust the Lib Dems when it comes to running public services, supporting businesses and issues around poverty. Immigration stands out as a particular weakness for the party, with just 19% of Britons trusting the party at least a fair amount on the issue.
Just over a quarter of Britons (27%) say they would trust the Lib Dems to represent people like them, with this noticeably higher among those who are classed as living in ‘ABC1’ middle class households (32%) than those classed as living in ‘C2DE’ working class households (20%).
The youngest Britons are also more likely to feel represented by the Lib Dems, with 35% of 18-24 year olds trusting the party to represent them, compared to 25-27% of older age groups.
While unsurprising that Lib Dem voters largely trust the party, immigration does stick out among the areas polled. For the 41% of Lib Dem voters that trust the party on the issue, a near-matching 36% do not, producing a net trust score of just +5. This contrasts with scores of at least +23 among Lib Dem voters across the other areas polled.
It is Labour voters who are most divided over how they see the Lib Dems. They tend to trust the party when it comes to issues like the environment (+17 net trust score), protecting minorities (+13) and the NHS (+12), but are split in areas like housing (+2), taxation (-2) and defence (-3). Labour voters tend not to trust the Lib Dems when it comes to managing the economy (-9), the cost of living (-14) and immigration (-16).
On most of the areas polled, Green voters tend not to trust the Lib Dems. For instance, roughly twice as many do not trust Ed Davey’s party to keep its promises (50%) than do (27%). However, Green voters are more evenly divided when it comes to trusting the Lib Dems on running local councils (+3 net trust score), the environment (+1), supporting businesses (-1) and the NHS (-3).
The Lib Dems hold net negative trust ratings with Conservative and Reform UK voters in all the areas polled.
See the full results here
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Photo: Getty
