Sunak loses more 2019 Tory support as Starmer leads poll on 17 leadership traits

Rishi Sunak trails Keir Starmer in public opinion on 17 leadership traits, including creativity, pragmatism and truthfulness, according to a new Redfield and Wilton poll.

The Labour leader polls 16 points ahead of the current occupant of Downing Street on the question of who would be the better Prime Minister.

Starmer vs Sunak (18 February):

Starmer leads Sunak on ALL 17 leadership characteristics polled, including:

Represents change (48% | 21%)
Cares about people like me (43% | 21%)
Is a strong leader (40% | 24%)
Can build a strong economy (43% | 28%) pic.twitter.com/2uXkRaVeLT

— Redfield & Wilton Strategies (@RedfieldWilton) February 19, 2024

The poll also found the joint-lowest number of 2019 Conservative voters who said they would be backing the party at the next election since Sunak became Prime Minister in 2022.

Just 44% of 2019 Tories said they would be voting for the party at the next election, while 20% said they now backed Labour.

18% of these voters said they planned to vote Reform and 13% are undecided.

Labour leads the Conservatives by 23% in overall Westminster voting intention in the new poll, with 46% of those asked planning to vote for Starmer’s party and 23% planning to cast a ballot for Sunak’s.

According to the Redfield and Wilton poll, Jeremy Hunt has an approval rating of -11 in his role as Chancellor.

In December 2023 Sunak suffered his worst overall favourability ratings, when a YouGov poll found he had an approval rating of -49.

Last month, a YouGov poll found the Tories were 27 points behind Labour in Westminster voting intention.

Polling for the Spectator at the same time found that he was 25.4 points behind amongst Conservative party members.