Keir Starmer has suffered a fall in his personal ratings since winning the general election in July with over half of voters believing Starmer will not be prime minister by the next general election.
The prime minister has endured a difficult start in government as he faced criticism for taking the Winter Fuel Payments away from 10 million pensioners.
It also emerged that the prime minister broke parliamentary rules by initially failing to declare more than £5,000 towards clothing that Labour peer Lord Alli had given to Lady Starmer.
Further damage was done after it was revealed that Sue Gray, Starmer’s powerful chief of staff, is being paid £3,000 more than him.
Some 60 per cent of respondents do not think Labour will be re-elected in the next general election
More in Common
The succession of controversies has taken its toll on the public’s faith in Starmer with 52 per cent saying they do not believe he will be prime minister by the next general election compared to 48 per cent who say he will.
The poll, by the More in Common think tank, also found that three in five people already expect Labour to lose at the next general election.
To make matters worse, the poll found that one in five Labour voters (17 per cent) now regret their decision to back the party.
Starmer’s rating had been as high as +11 points in late July after his landslide win, but the honeymoon period was short-lived and the public is now more likely to think he is doing a “somewhat bad” or “very bad” job.
More in Common suggested that Labour must hit 36 per cent of the popular vote if it is to win the next election, likely to take place in 2029.
Labour won 33.7 per cent of the vote in July, therefore even a modest Conservative recovery, in which votes are regained from Reform UK, could see the Tories overtake Labour.
A separate poll by Opinium showed similar results putting Starmer’s approval rating at its lowest ever (-26 per cent).
This puts the prime minister’s approval rating one point lower than that of Tory leader Rishi Sunak, suffering a 45-point drop since July.
According to the poll, conducted between 18 to 20 September, only 27 per cent view the new government’s first few months as a success, and even a third of Labour 2024 voters think the same.
The Labour leader is not alone in suffering a drop in support following the election with Chancellor Rachel Reeves suffering a 36-point drop in her net approval since July.
A poll by Opinium shows Keir Starmer’s approval rate has dropped to -26 per cent
Opinium
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Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Deputy PM Angela Rayner have also all suffered a drop in ratings.
James Crouch, head of policy and public affairs at Opinium said: “While the prime minister might have a world-beating new wardrobe voters are refusing to wear his government’s austerity drive.
“Not only do the public feel worse off than they did before the election, but concerns that Labour has focused too much on government finances rather than growth have almost wiped out their lead on the economy.
“Much of the blame for this tone is being directed at Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, who now have approval ratings on a par with Rishi Sunak.”
