London Loves Boris

May 30, 2013, 11:43 AM GMT+0

Majorities of Londoners from all major parties say Boris is doing well as Mayor – and ‘charisma’ is ranked his top trait by far

Just days after ex-No 10 press chief Andy Coulson told GQ magazine that London Mayor Boris Johnson “desperately wants to be Prime Minister”, a new YouGov poll asks those most affected by his leadership how they rate his performance.

The London-only poll finds that majorities of supporters of all the four major parties say Mr Johnson is “doing well” as Mayor of London. His own Conservative party are almost unanimous with 93% in praise of his leadership, and their partners in government, the Lib Dems, applaud him by 69%. Surprisingly, even Labour voters on the whole back Boris with 55% in approval of his mayoral ability.

When asked which qualities Mr Johnson has, the majority (59%) of Londoners choose ‘charisma’; that total is made up from majorities of all the main party’s voters, including 51% of Labour supporters. “Sticks to what he believes in” is voted the Mayor’s next top trait, with a third (33%) choosing that option, and a quarter (24%) say Boris “is a natural leader”.

In comparison to a nation-wide poll by YouGov from April, David Cameron’s charisma lags: only 18% say that’s the quality that most applies to the Prime Minister, whereas “sticks to what he believes in” is most applicable for a quarter (26%), however the biggest group (45%) say none of the positive traits apply.

On the 2015 general election Boris Johnson said yesterday: “I’m always grateful to Andy Coulson for his impeccable career advice but I’m backing David Cameron who I am absolutely, increasingly confident is going to win.”

See the full poll results

See Cameron's qualities results

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