Who won the election debate? New voter polls and our readers say Starmer won

Two public polls on the ITV general election leaders’ debate have found Keir Starmer clearly won against Rishi Sunak, contrasting with a previous poll that put the two near neck and neck with Sunak marginally in front.

Meanwhile a poll of 1,344 of our own readers found 46% said Starmer had the better night, around 30% said Sunak and around 21% said neither.

The latest professional poll released on Wednesday morning by Savanta found 44% of voters rating Starmer as the winner, to 39% for Sunak. Starmer was seen to have significantly better answers on the NHS and public services, the economy and cost of living, and Starmer was even narrowly ahead on defene and security. Starmer also won on every personality-based question, including seeming more honest.

A JL Partners poll also put Starmer convincingly ahead, at 53% to Sunak’s 33%.

An earlier YouGov snap poll had suggested voters were almost evenly divided on whether Sunak and Starmer came out better. The poll found 46% of the public surveyed said the Prime Minister had the better night,  and 45% said the Labour leader, while 9% said they did not know.

LabourList has also carried out a simple crude poll of our readers, asking who came out better from the debate. You can respond here too, and scroll below to see some examples of readers’ comments.

READ MORE:  Review: ‘The ITV format left little room for debate – but that benefits Labour’

Some 1344 people had voted in the poll by around 8.30am on Wednesday morning.

As the leading dedicated Labour news site followed by thousands of ordinary members, LabourList hopes the poll may give some clues about member sentiment.

We are not suggesting it is a scientific poll providing an exact representation of the views of all party members however, as our readership also includes those interested in Labour but not in the party, and anyone was able to fill in the public poll.

READ MORE: Live analysis and updates on the ITV debate as it happened

What readers who said Starmer won thought

• Sunak failed to land punches in a must-win fight he lost. Starmer was great handling the vase across a slippery floor by striking back.
• Rishi is terrible. Keir Starmer is humane.
• Sunak was petulant and Starmer magisterial.
  
• Starmer put his case in a statesmanlike manner; Sunak constantly interrupted and (ironically) made up his own Project Fear.
• Keir’s tie was an awful wishy-washy insipid colour which didn’t resonate well with someone trying to ooze strength.
• Keir Starmer came across as honest and trustworthy. Rishi Sunak looked rattled.
• Starmer should have talked more about what Labour will do.
• Starmer won on ECHR, and NHS use. But the format is awful. Sound bites won’t save the country.
• Starmer was best when talking about specific policies, eg with GB Energy, recruiting teachers, clearing the NHS backlog. However he didn’t answer some of the questions.

What readers who said Sunak won thought

• Starmer should have killed off the tax issue straight away. Very poor.
• Starmer waffles.
• Sunak was aggressive. Starmer was too reasonable and needed to be more pithy and punchy.
• Starmer was wooden.
• The Tories are like hyenas and courtesy and professionalism won’t work against them.
• I thought Sunak landed his points better. But it won’t affect the GE result. Labour landslide victory!
• Starmer needed to attack not to defend.
• He looked uncomfortable and lacking in confidene and didn’t challenge the claims Sunak was making. This election should be a walk over but I’m not confident after that performance.
• Starmer was right his dad definitely was a tool maker!

What readers who said neither won thought

• Too much negative, not enough positive.
• It was a reversal of roles. Starmer seemed more like a PM, Sunak more like a boarish challenger.
• Both looked poor. Starmer hesitant and unconvincing, Sunak petulant and desperate.
• Rishi is impatient and Keir Starmer is too wishy washy.
• Dreadful adjudication.

Read more of our 2024 general election coverage here.

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