Liz Truss’s net favourability rating falls to -70

Peter RavenData Journalist
October 18, 2022, 8:00 AM GMT+0

Just one in ten Britons have a favourable opinion of the prime minister

A new YouGov survey, conducted between 14-16 October, reveals that just 10% of Britons have a favourable impression of Truss, down from 15% in a previous survey on 11-12 October.

Four out of five British adults (80%) now view Truss unfavourably with 62% who see her very unfavourably. The prime minister’s net favourability score now stands at -70, a 14 point drop since last week.

The latest poll results come after Truss reversed the cut in corporation tax and sacked Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor, replacing him with Jeremy Hunt.

The popularity of Truss among Conservative voters also continues to plummet, with just one in five (20%) having a favourable view of their party’s leader and 71% having an unfavourable view. Her current net favourability score of -51 is down 26 points since last week.

Even before leaving Number 10, Boris Johnson had strongly implied that he wishes to return to the top spot, with supporters having tried to get him added to the ballot at the Conservative leadership election and others telling Tory MPs that they would regret removing him.

The former prime minister’s reputation seems less tarnished than that of his successor, with almost three times as many Britons having a favourable view of Johnson (29%) as Truss. His net favourability score currently sits at -36.

Likewise, leadership contest rival Rishi Sunak is also much less unpopular than Truss, with 37% giving him a favourable rating, and an overall net favourability rating of -18. Some Tory MPs are rumoured to want to replace Truss with Sunak and Penny Mordaunt.

The prime minister is also less well-liked than the Conservative party as a whole, which has a net favourability score of -53, down from -44 in the previous poll. The party is considered favourable by 18% of the British public, down from 22% earlier in the month.

Labour leader Keir Starmer continues to be considerably less unpopular than his Conservative rivals, with 41% of people liking him and 46% disliking him, a net score of -5. Labour themselves are slightly more popular still, with 45% having a favourable opinion of the party compared to 44% who don’t, giving a net score of +1.

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