More people now prefer Rishi Sunak’s government to Sir Keir Starmer’s administration, a poll has found.
A survey by think tank More in Common shows the Labour Government is already less liked than the previous Tory one, despite taking power just under three months ago.
The poll of 2,080 adults showed that 31 per cent preferred Mr Sunak’s government, while 29 per cent preferred the current one.
It comes after a rocky start to Sir Keir’s time in Downing Street amid a series of rows over clothing donations by Lord Alli, a millionaire Labour peer, and cuts to winter fuel payments.
The Prime Minister’s net approval rating with More in Common has now fallen to minus 27 per cent, 38 points down from when Labour took office.
It is a stark contrast to the reception that Sir Tony Blair was said to have received at a similar point following his own landslide in 1997, when it was reported his net score was as high as 93 per cent.
Just over one in five voters (22 per cent) now think Labour will win the next general election despite the party picking up 411 out of 650 seats in the Commons in July.
Slightly more (23 per cent) believe the Conservatives will win the next national poll, which would require a historic swing following the party’s worst election defeat in modern history.
When asked whether they regretted their vote, 33 per cent of Labour voters said they did, while just five per cent of Conservative voters said they regretted backing the Tories.
Luke Tryl, the UK director of More in Common, said: “Three months ago it looked as though the Conservatives were headed for a multi-parliament spell in opposition.
“But the Starmer Government’s early missteps and growing voter volatility mean the path to power could be quicker than assumed.
“The challenge for the Conservatives is how best to take advantage. Our research suggests that a pure ‘unite the Right’ strategy will leave the Conservatives far short of a majority.
“The party instead needs to focus first on winning over loyal Conservative voters who stayed at home in July, second to squeeze Labour and Lib Dem voters who are having second thoughts, and third to appeal to wavering Reform voters when the race becomes a straight Labour-Conservative choice.”
The research found that out of the million-plus Britons who opted to stay at home having voted Tory in 2019, it was the first time that three-quarters (77 per cent) had not voted Tory.
Seventy-four per cent of Reform voters believe Labour is doing a “very bad job”, significantly higher than the 52 per cent of 2024 Conservatives who hold the same view.
Despite the success of Nigel Farage’s party largely coming at the expense of the Tories, Reform voters are eight times more likely to have preferred Mr Sunak’s government to its Labour successor.
Mr Tryl added: “If the next leader can execute a three-phase strategy, the Tories’ time in opposition could well be limited.
“However, the flip side of a more volatile electorate is that if the next leader gets their pitch wrong, the party could well find itself falling further, and potentially replaced by the Liberal Democrats or Reform UK as the main opposition party.”
