Rishi Sunak is now more unpopular than Boris Johnson, according to a new poll which shows the Chancellor’s popularity has plummeted in the last month.
The polling by Savanta ComRes found that Mr Sunak now has a net favorability rating of -20, one point lower than the Prime Minister.
The Chancellor’s rating fell by 26 points since March 11 and 13, meaning that Sir Keir Starmer is now by far the least unpopular of the three men, with a -5 net rating.
Pollsters said that the sharp drop in Mr Sunak’s popularity showed that “all public goodwill he may have built up during the pandemic has all but evaporated”. The decline was even steeper than the Prime Minister’s popularity slump during “partygate”.
Rishi Sunak’s popularity fall ‘feels unprecedented’
It comes after the negative public reaction to the Chancellor’s Spring Statement, controversies over his wife’s status as a non-dom, as well as revelations that he was a US green card holder whilst in office.
The Prime Minister’s rating, however, increased for its third successive month, returning towards its pre-partygate score of -14.
The voting intentions for the two main parties remain largely unchanged over the past week, with Labour on 40 per cent while the Conservatives increased by one percentage point to 34 per cent.
Chris Hopkins, political research director at Savanta ComRes, said: “While the partygate fines may have changed the headline here, in that the Prime Minister’s favourability may too have taken a tumble had fieldwork been delayed another week, the fact we’ve seen such a drop in favourability during a tumultuous month for the Chancellor ultimately points to the fact that all public goodwill he may have built up during the pandemic has all but evaporated.
“For context, even during the partygate scandal, the PM’s favourability took two months to drop by a similar margin.
“Of course, the partygate scandal was leaked over a longer period, while a Christmas recess and the fact that Sunak has simply a greater height from which to fall will contribute to these numbers, a 26-point drop in one month feels unprecedented – and had it been conducted after being issued a fixed penalty notice, it could have been even more severe.”
