UK: Public opinion on coronavirus – 11th June
Labour drops back down, and Tories see a slight increase to take their lead back to 5 points
The Conservative’s enjoy a slight uptick in voting intent from the previous week (from 43% to 44%) and Labour’s charge forward in the polls suffers it’s first dip since the second week of April (down 1 point to 39%).
The Conservatives appear to have fully stemmed their falling rating now, having seen their share of the vote tumble since the beginning of April. On the other side, Labour haven’t managed to build on their highest share of the vote share since January 2019, and have dropped down 1 point to 39%.
Johnson’s ratings remain negative: Disapproval of the job he is doing remains high
Disapproval of the way Boris Johnson is acting as prime minister appears to have levelled, with no significant increases in either approval or disapproval over the last three weeks. Whilst the level approving of him continues to hold steady on 37%, disapproval has decreased one point, making his net approval -6 this week.
By comparison Keir Starmer’s approval ratings remain very high on +24%, although this has dropped 4 points since the previous week, as those who disapprove increases from 17% to 21%.
Economic perceptions cautiously improve
At the beginning of March, perceptions for the next 12 months in terms of both the UK economy and personal finances were dire and continued to decline into the beginning of April. Although we have seen perceptions slowly improve to pre-lockdown levels, the overwhelming view is still negative.
This could in part be due to the amount who think they will lose their job remaining at around a quarter of workers throughout the crisis, and despite peaking at 31% last week, has dropped back down to 26% this week.
Unsurprisingly, support for the Government’s attempt to provide financial support for workers and business throughout the crisis is high, with two thirds (66%), saying they approve.
Views are split on the pulling down of the Edward Colston in Bristol
Whilst 39% would have supported the removal of the statue of the slave trader and philanthropist Edward Colston by the local authority, 31% actively would have actively opposed this.
Whilst current Labour voters are more supportive of the action through the local authority (68%), in the seats Kier Starmer needs to win back, that is Labour seats lost since 2005, the view is a lot more split, with only 34% supporting this hypothetical.
Support for the government’s handling over the forcible removal of the statue is high, with over half of UK adults saying they disapprove of the protestors who pulled down the statue. Approval for the protestors is highest in London, at 42%.
You can find the full report here.
You can find the full data tables here.