Rishi Sunak’s popularity drops with voters amid surging living costs, poll finds

The Chancellor’s net favourability was down 24 points since just before his spring statement , YouGov found.

Elizabeth Arnold
Wednesday 06 April 2022 13:20 BST
Rishi Sunak (Peter Byrne/PA)
Rishi Sunak (Peter Byrne/PA)

Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s popularity with voters has plunged amid continuing debate over the Government’s reaction to surging living costs, according to a poll.

His net favourability was down 24 points since just before his spring statement on March 23, to reach minus 29, the survey by YouGov found.

The poll put the Chancellor’s support below that of Sir Keir Starmer (minus 25) for the first time since the Labour leader took office.

Minus 29 is Mr Sunak’s lowest ever result and is a 24-point decrease since March 22-23, and a 14-point drop since immediately after the spring statement, the figures showed.

Sir Keir Starmer (Ben Birchall/PA)

The poll found more than half of Britons (57%) have an unfavourable opinion of the Chancellor, compared with 28% who view him in a positive light.

Mr Sunak’s net favourability with 2019 Conservative voters was 6, a fall of 23 points from March 23-24, and a drop from 41 just before the spring statement.

The Prime Minister’s net favourability among Britons was minus 34, down 8 points from March 23-24.

Boris Johnson’s favourability among 2019 Conservative voters was 7.

Sir Keir’s net favourability of minus 25 is down from minus 21 on March 23-24, while his net favourability among Labour voters is 20 – 13 points higher than that of Mr Johnson among Conservative voters.

The findings were based on a survey of 2,120 British adults on April 4-5, YouGov said.

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