Voters prefer Starmer to Tory leadership candidates Sunak and Truss, poll finds

Keir Starmer has been found to be more popular among voters than both Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, the two remaining candidates in the race to be the next Conservative Party leader, polling has revealed.

In the survey, carried out by Ipsos Mori and published today, 24% of respondents said they had a favourable opinion of the Labour leader, compared to 20% for the former Chancellor and just 17% for the Foreign Secretary.

The poll of 1,099 British adults found that 60% of respondents said they had an unfavourable opinion of Boris Johnson, while only 18% said they viewed him favourably, giving the Prime Minister a net favourability score of -42.

The proportion of those surveyed who had an unfavourable view of Starmer was 43%, lower than the figure recorded for both Sunak (50%) and Truss (45%). Starmer received a net favourability rating of -19, compared to the former Chancellor on -30 and the Foreign Secretary on -28.

The findings come from Ipsos Mori’s July ‘Political Pulse‘, a report produced monthly by the polling company based on surveys of voters on various political questions.

According to previous reports, Starmer’s net favourability rating has fallen in recent months. In April, Ipsos Mori found he had an overall favourability score of -11, while respondents to its surveys in May and June gave him a rating of -15.

But Starmer’s favourability among Labour voters in July was at its highest since April. 56% of respondents who voted Labour in 2019 said they had a favourable opinion of Starmer, compared to 18% who said they had an unfavourable view of him, giving him a net favourability score of +38, up 14 on the previous poll in June.

Sunak and Truss were confirmed as the final candidates in the race to replace Johnson as Prime Minister following five rounds of voting by Tory MPs. Sunak topped the final ballot on Wednesday as in previous rounds, receiving 137 votes, while Truss came second on 113.

The two contenders will now take part in a series of hustings with Conservative Party members around the country, starting in Leeds on Thursday evening. Multiple hustings events are expected to take place each week for the rest of the campaign.

Commenting on Sunak and Truss’s selection by Tory MPs, Conor McGinn said: “The choice to be the next Tory leader is down to the two continuity candidates. Both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak are stooges of the Johnson administration whose fingerprints are all over the state the country finds itself in today.

“Both are now desperately trying to distance themselves from the Tory record of the last 12 years. But both have backed every decision, including every one of Boris Johnson’s 15 tax rises.

“Rather than plans to tackle the Tory cost-of-living crisis or grow Britain’s economy, they are simply offering the fantasy economics of unfunded giveaways. Neither offers working people anything except more of the same.

“Whichever one of these continuity candidates wins, one thing is clear: the more time we give the Tories, the more damage they will do. Only Labour can provide the fresh start the country needs.”