Public Want Prime Minister to Apologise for Jimmy Saville Comments

Opinium on Sunday published its latest polling for The Observer using a new methodology.

Explaining the changes, it says: “The new methodology makes sure we are getting a sample that is balanced on political attention, ethnicity, as well as education qualifications.

“We are using a new approach to turnout weighting to ensure our voters are representative of those people who actually vote in General Elections

“One big effect of this is to decrease the importance of the fact that many Conservative voters are moving to undecided (and being excluded from the headline vote share figure), which is a big part of the reason for the recent Labour leads.”

The headline voting intention figures give Labour a 3-point lead, with it polling on 37%, and the Conservatives on 34%. Whilst on the face of it this would suggest a considerable tightening of the position between the two main parties, Opinium is at pains to note that: “the smaller lead is because of the new methodology, not because of a weakening in Labour’s position.”

It notes that: “The rough headline figures under our old methodology would have been Lab 42% (+3), Con 32% (-2).”

Moving on to the more detailed tables Opinium reports that Boris Johnson now has a net approval rating of -34. Among those who voted Conservative in 2019 he has a net rating of just +4. The Labour Leader, Keir Starmer, meanwhile has an overall net approval rating of 0.

Asked who they felt would make the better Prime Minister, 24% said Boris Johnson with 26% opting for Keir Starmer.

Questioned about what they thought of the Prime Minister’s accusations that Starmer, whilst Director of Public Prosecutions, “spent more time prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile” 42% said the accusation was unture, compared to 28% who said it was true. 58% feel it was unacceptable for the Prime Minister to have made these remarks whilst 57% said the Prime Minister should apologies for them.

Looking to the next 12 months, 52% of those polled felt the UK economy would get worse, whilst 45% said their personal finances would get worse over the same period.

Asked which type of government they felt would be best placed to spend government money efficiently, 29% said a Labour government headed by Keir Starmer with 24% saying a Conservative government led by Boris Johnson.

On the all-important issue of the economy, whilst 30% said a Conservative government headed by Boris Johnson was best placed to run it, this was only slightly ahead of the 29% who opted for a Labour government led by Keir Starmer.

28% meanwhile felt a Labour government headed by Starmer would be best placed to improve their own financial situation compared to 21% who said the same about the Conservatives under Boris Johnson.

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