For the first time since YouGov started asking in 2017, more Londoners think Sadiq Khan is doing badly than well
Almost a year into Sadiq Khan's second term as Mayor of London, YouGov polling finds for the first time that Londoners tend think he's doing badly (48%) rather than well (38%) in the job. Our previous survey in late March/early April last year, prior to Khan’s re-election, had found Londoners split, with 45% saying he was doing well versus 42% who thought he was doing badly.
Looking at his current figures, in better news for the Mayor, Khan is retaining support amongst 2019 Labour voters, with 52% saying he's performing well compared to a third (33%) who say the opposite. This, however, is down from last year when almost two thirds (64%) of Labour voters thought he was doing well to 25% who thought badly.
On three key issues we asked about – all within the Mayor of London’s remit – Londoners also tend to think Khan is doing badly. Most capital residents believe Khan is handling crime (60%) and housing (56%) poorly, and by 49% to 40% they say the same of transport.
Perhaps more damaging for the Mayor is the fact 2019 Labour voters also tend to disapprove of his handling of housing and crime, by 49% to 30% in the case of the former and by 49% to 37% in the case of the latter. Labour-voting Londoners do still tend to think Khan is doing well on transport, however (52% vs 39%).
In further bad news for Labour, their leader in Westminster fares no better than their leader in City Hall. About as many Londoners think Keir Starmer is doing badly in his job (47%), while even fewer (33%) think he is doing well. Crucially, Starmer is retaining less support amongst 2019 Labour voters than Khan, with similar numbers saying they think the Labour leader is performing well as performing badly (42% to 41%).
When asked how Boris Johnson is doing as prime minister, just 21% think he's doing well. Over three times as many (71%) say the PM is performing badly in his role. Amongst 2019 Conservative voters in the capital, approval of the prime minister’s job performance stands at 52% well vs 43% badly. These figures, however, were collected prior to the party scandal this week so there's potentially some worse news on the horizon for Boris Johnson.
As for the capital's Metropolitan Police Commissioner, more than twice as many Londoners are disapproving of Cressida Dick (52%) than approving (22%).
See full results here
