Approval rating of +23 gives boost to Keir Starmer

New Labour leader Keir Starmer has been given a boost thanks to YouGov polling today that shows he has a net approval rating of +23, which is higher than that of Boris Johnson.

Asked whether they thought Keir Starmer was doing well or badly as leader of the Labour Party, overall 40% said “very well” or “fairly well” and 17% said “very badly” or “fairly badly”.

His net approval rating of +23 compares well to that of Boris Johnson, whose net rating has fallen to +22, though a total of 57% still say the Prime Minister is doing well.

Indicating that there are still low levels of familiarity with the Labour leader among members of the public, a substantial 44% replied “don’t know” to the YouGov question.

The “don’t know” response was higher among those aged between 18 and 24, as to be expected, at 57%. In this group, 32% said he was doing well and 11% said he was doing badly.

The oldest group in the survey results – those aged 65 and over – saw only 33% say “don’t know”, while 48% said he was doing “well” and 20% said he was doing “badly”.

The answers of men and women were similar, with the latter group being more likely to say “don’t know”. 40% of men and 38% of women said he was doing well; 20% of men and 15% of women said he was doing badly.

Starmer’s ratings were best in London, where 43% said he was doing well and 14% badly. In the Midlands, 37% said well and 17% badly; in the North, 42% said well and 15% badly.

In Scotland, where Labour needs to make progress to win a general election, 34% said well and 24% said badly. In Wales, 31% said well and 13% said badly.

His ratings are notably different between Remain and Leave voters, with a majority of the former – 52% – saying well while a lower 35% of the latter said well.

More Conservative voters said he was doing well than badly, at 34% and 25% respectively. Lib Dem voters were very positive about Starmer, with a higher percentage saying well (63%) compared to Labour voters (54%).

1,674 adults took part in the survey conducted May 9th-10th, 2020.