Sir Keir Starmer overtakes Boris Johnson in approval ratings as Brits rate leaders' performances

Sir Keir Starmer
AFP via Getty Images
Kit Heren12 May 2020

Sir Keir Starmer is currently more popular with British people than Boris Johnson, a new poll suggests.

A YouGov survey carried out over the weekend found that 40 per cent of Brits believe the Labour leader is doing either "fairly well" or "very well" and 17 per cent think he is performing "fairly badly" or "very badly".

The Prime Minister is more divisive – 57 per cent think he is doing "fairly well" or "very well," while 35 per cent think he is doing "fairly badly" or "very badly", the survey found.

This gives Sir Keir, who became Labour leader in April, a one-point lead over Mr Johnson.

Boris Johnson in London
Getty Images

Forty-four per cent of respondents said they didn't know how Sir Keir was performing, while just seven per cent said the same about Mr Johnson.

The PM's poll ratings have dropped since April, when 66 per cent of respondents said that he was performing well and 26 per cent that he was doing badly.

Sir Keir's performances in the House of Commons have been praised as "forensic" and his debate with Mr Johnson at Prime Minister's Questions likened to "a quietly terrifying force".

The Labour leader has vowed to work "constructively" with the Prime Minister but has asked for "clarity and reassurance" on his new plans for easing the coronavirus lockdown.

Leading pollster Sir John Curtice told the Express: “It’s very early days, and Starmer is not terribly well-known, and one of the basic jobs is to get better known, and obviously the circumstances in which he has got the leadership make that difficult, but the indication so far is that is more likely to be regarded as prime ministerial than was Corbyn, which is not bad for a start.”

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