Ipsos poll shows Tories not trusted with economy and Sunak unpopular

A staggering 79% of voters are dissatisfied with how the Tory government is running the country, while Labour is maintaining a 26-point lead.

Following Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng's disastrous mini-budget on September 23, and their subsequent resignations, Sunak took over the premiership on October 26.

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The Ipsos Political Monitor polled voters between December 7 and 13, following the mini-budget and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement, which attempted to rectify the fall out from his predecessor's decisions.

The mini-budget caused the pound to crash to a record low against the US dollar, forced the Bank of England to intervene to stop pension pots from collapsing, and has caused mortgage interest rates to skyrocket in the aftermath.

And, it appears that Tory economic recklessness has cut through, as the Tories lost their lead over Labour as the party most trusted to create growth.

Ipsos reports that when asked which party the public trusted the most to grow the UK economy, voters put both the Tories and Labour at 29%, while 28% said no party, or don’t know.

Sunak's popularity rating has plumetted

In September this year, prior to the mini-budget, the Tories led by 42% to 27%, and had been in front throughout 2022 before then.

Labour is also the party most trusted to deal with the cost of living crisis (37%), but that is down three points from September, while the Tories (19%) dropped six points. Meanwhile, 32% of the public said they did not know, or thought no party could be most trusted to deal with the crisis.

On voting intention, Labour sits at 49%, a percentage point increase since November, while the Tories are at 23%, down six points. The LibDems saw a six point boost to 13%, while the Greens saw no change (3%).

Further poll results showed the potential extent of the Tories upcoming electoral losses, with 61% of the public disagreeing that they should be re-elected, up one percent from October, while only 19% think they do (-3).

Labour are still sitting comfortably at 47% of voters who think they are ready to form the next government, but the figure has remained steady since October, and 31% disagree. This is the joint highest score registered by the party since they lost office in 2010.

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And, the Prime Minister’s popularity ratings are plummeting, with just 28% of voters satisfied with how he is doing in the top job, while 49% (+12) are dissatisfied. Unsurprisingly, 64% of Tory voters are happy with Sunak’s performance, but a growing 19% (+7) are also dissatisfied.

Only 14% (-2) of voters are satisfied with how the UK Government is running the country, while 79% (+3) are dissatisfied.

Gideon Skinner, head of political research at Ipsos UK, says of the findings: “As we go into Christmas there’s little sign of any significant honeymoon for Rishi Sunak in these figures.

“His personal ratings are down – before recent occupants of No10 it was rare for prime ministers to be in negative territory so early on in their tenure – while Labour continue to hold a substantial lead in voting intentions.

“Keir Starmer’s personal scores are mixed and there is not much to choose between him and the Conservative leader on many leader attributes, but despite this Britons are more inclined to see Labour as ready for government than during most of the last 10 years.

“Underpinning much of this are voters’ views on the economy and cost of living, which have been top of their agenda for most of 2022.

“The challenge for the Conservatives going into 2023 is that they still haven’t regained public confidence on these key issues, nor in other important areas like public services and immigration – and looking ahead few think the party deserves to be re-elected.”

We previously analysed Sunak's popularity rating amongst Tory members and the public before he took on the premiership.