Latest YouGov Westminster voting intention figures
The results of the latest YouGov/Times voting intention survey suggest that the damage caused to Tory voting intention prospects by the Cummings affair may now have plateaued.
In the week leading up to 26 May the Conservatives saw their lead over Labour fall from 15pts to just 6pts. As of the latest voting intention survey – conducted on 29-30 May – the Conservative lead is now 10pts.
Around 45% of voters currently say they intend to vote for the governing party (from 44% in the previous survey), while 35% say they will back Labour (from 38%).
Elsewhere, the Liberal Democrats have 6% of the vote (unchanged) the Greens have 5% (from 4%) and the Brexit Party are on 2% (unchanged).
Keir Starmer is closer to claiming the best Prime Minister accolade than he was in our last survey. One in three Brits (32%) now say that he would make the best Prime Minister when compared to Boris Johnson, a figure 5pts higher than the 27% who said so in the last survey in mid-May.
Johnson continues to lead on this measure, however, with 37% saying he would make the better head of government, compared to 39% in the last survey. A further 28% of Britons can’t choose between the two.
Conservative party reputation takes a beating
An additional survey also highlights the damage that Conservative party brand has taken over the last six weeks.
In mid-April Britons were split 36% to 37% on whether the Tories were in touch or out of touch with the British public. Now, however, the number who think the Tories are out of touch is twice as high (48%) as the number who think they are in touch (24%).
In fact, across all measures the Tories have taken a hammering. The proportion of Brits who think the Tories:
- are weak is up 18pts to 32%;
- and are incompetent up 16pts to 43%;
- are serving their own interests is up 12pts to 48%;
- are untrustworthy up 11pts to 47%; and
- care only about a select few is up 7pts to 53%.
Only in the case of ‘weak’ are the number holding the negative opinion outnumbered by those holding the opposing positive opinion (in this case 36% see the Tories as strong).
Meanwhile, the Labour party has seen some small improvement on a couple of these measures. The proportion who see the party as in touch has risen 5pts to 22%, while at the same time the number seeing them as out of touch has fallen 10pts to 44%.
Likewise, 21% of Britons are now likely to see the party as competent – a 6pt increase – while 40% see it as incompetent – a 9pt decrease.
The number of Brits seeing the party as weak has fallen from 59% to 52%, although there has been no corresponding rise in the number seeing the party as strong. There has been little movement on the questions asking whether the party is trying to do the right thing, and whether it is trustworthy.
See the full voting intention results here and the party perception results here
