Poll to Poll

As the dust continues to settle on the Chancellor’s Spring Statement, Opinium has published its latest fortnightly poll for The Observer. When it comes to headline voting intentions Labour are up 1 point from two weeks ago on 38%, with the Conservatives also up 1 point on 36%. Looking at Boris Johnson’s leadership, 52% of respondents said they disapproved of the way he was handling his job as Prime Minister, down from 54% two weeks ago. 28% approved of the job he is doing, up 1 point. For Labour Leader, Keir Starmer, 32% said they disapprove of the job he is doing, up 2 points from a fortnight ago. 28% approve of the job he is doing as Leader of the Opposition, unchanged since Opinium’s last poll. 26% say they think Boris Johnson would make the best Prime Minister (down 1 point) compared to 25% who said the same about Keir Starmer (also down 1 point). The polling includes a number of questions asking what type of Government (Labour led by Keir Starmer or Conservative led by ...

Following the Chancellor’s Spring Statement yesterday, Opinium published a snap poll to gage the reaction of the public. It found that whilst 44% of respondents approved of the statement (compared to 19% who disapproved), 65% felt the Government should be doing more. Politically, Rishi Sunak will be finding hard to swallow the fact that 35% see him as a tax raising Chancellor, compared to just 14% who say he is a tax cutting one. 31% said they felt he was neither one not the other. Just 26% now approve of the Government’s handling of the economy (-15 since March last year) with 48% disapproving of its handling of the economy (+13). In good news for Labour, the Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Labour Leader, Keir Stamer (32%) now lead over Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak (31%) on who the public most trust to handle the economy. Opinium goes on to observe: “Labour is ahead on four of our five key economic metrics, including best party to run the economy. They only train the C...

As the Chancellor prepares to deliver his Spring Statement this week against a backdrop of a cost of living crisis, Ipsos Mori has published its latest political monitor for March.   What is clear from it is how pessimistic the UK now is about the state of the economy. 76% believe the economy will get worse over the next 12 months (up 20 points from January). Ipsos Mori notes that: “This matches the worst ever levels in 44 years of tracking (in 2008 and 1980).” When it comes to headline voting intentions, Labour are now on 39% (down 1 point from January) with the Conservatives on 35% (up 4 points). When it comes to satisfaction with the main party leaders, Boris Johnson now has a net rating of -28, with Keir Starmer on -10. The Government as a whole has a net rating of -28. In regards to events in Ukraine, 46% of respondents say they are satisfied with the way the UK Government is handling the Russian invasion of the country, with 38% dissatisfied. To put this in some ...

Opinium has today tweeted the latest headlines from its poll conducted for The Observer between 9 th and 11 th March. For headline voting intentions the Conservatives are on 35% (up 1 point since a fortnight ago) with Labour down 1 point on 37%. For the first time this year, Boris Johnson has taken a lead over the Labour Leader, Keir Starmer, when it comes to who would make the best Prime Minister. Of those polled, 26% preferred Starmer, compared to 27% who opted for Johnson. 32% however feel neither would make the best Prime Minister. When it comes to Ukraine, 78% of those polled support sending arms and rations to support the Ukrainians, with 68% supporting the donation of Western planes. However, things are much more evenly split when it comes to the idea of Western forces directly supporting the Ukrainians. Of those Brits questioned, 43% said they would support Western troops being sent to Ukraine, compared to 40% who would oppose such a move. 40% would support the enfor...

The Washington Post this week reported on polling conducted by what it describes as “a group of independent survey research organisations” into Russian attitudes to what is happening in Ukraine. It reports that 58% of Russians approve of the invasion of Ukraine with 23% opposing it. Interestingly it goes on to note: “Among young people, support for the war is significantly lower, according to the study. In the 18-to-24 age group, 29 percent indicated they back the war, while 39 percent were opposed. Peak support for the war, at 75 percent, was among respondents age 66 and older.” In Ukraine, polling by the the Kyiv based Info Sapiens organisation has found that 79% of Ukrainians are against the official recognition of the previously occupied areas of the Donbass region as part of Russia. 75%, it says, are against the official recognition of Crimea as part of Russia, and 56% are against the ban on Ukraine’s membership in NATO even if it ends the war. In a sign of the leadership ...

As the West continues to grapple with how to prevent President Putin continuing the carnage he is causing in Ukraine, polling points to marked difference in public opinion either side of the Atlantic. In the United States, a poll by Reuters/Ipsos suggests that despite concerns that such a move could escalate the conflict, 74% of Americans said the US and NATO should impose a no fly zone in Ukraine. 80% also said the US should stop buying Russian oil, despite concerns about the potential impact such a move might have on inflation. Indeed, 62% said they felt that paying more for fuel and gas would be worthwhile if it meant defending another democracy. 81% of Americans would believe that the US should impose further sanctions on Russia, with 72% believing the US should supply the Ukrainians with weapons to fight the Russians. In contrast however, a YouGov poll in the UK suggests that just 28% of those questioned would support NATO imposing a no fly zone over Ukraine, with 39% oppo...