Half of Britons say they feel less positive about Rishi Sunak than a year ago, with his handling of the cost-of-living crisis and stories about his wife’s tax arrangements key reasons

As Rishi Sunak’s poll ratings have fallen from their previous highs, new research by Ipsos looks at what the public thinks are the reasons why.  Half of Britons (51%) say they have a less positive view of the Chancellor of the Exchequer than a year ago, while only 1 in 10 feel more positive and 32% say their opinion of him has not changed. 

Even among his own party’s voters, 46% feel less positive about Mr Sunak now compared to a year ago, this increases to 6 in 10 2019 Labour voters. 

Among those who say they now have a less favourable opinion, most think this is due to his handling of the cost-of-living crisis (63%) or stories about his wife’s tax arrangements in the UK (61%). Half (51%) say they are less positive about him due to his support for Boris Johnson throughout the “Partygate” scandal while a similar proportion blame it on his own receival of a fixed penalty notice for attending a party during Covid (49%). A further half (48%) say his handling of taxation and expenditure has caused their opinion to get worse.

Despite a majority thinking they have a less favourable opinion of the Chancellor than a year ago, opinion is split as to whether he is currently doing a good or bad job in his role. While 34% say he has been doing well, 36% disagree. However, the proportion of those who believe he has done a bad job has fallen from 44% around 2 weeks ago, although is still higher than the 25% who were critical earlier in March.  

Gideon Skinner, Head of Political Research at Ipsos, says:

The Chancellor’s public satisfaction ratings have fallen some way from their heights earlier in the pandemic.  While this trend started last year, this research suggests that at the moment more topical issues are casting a cloud over the public’s views, particularly the cost of living, but also stories about his wife’s tax arrangements and the impact of the fines for Downing St parties breaking lockdown restrictions.  High levels of public concern over inflation and general pessimism over the economy suggests there is no easy route back to his previous high levels of public regard, though there may be some comfort that his ratings have shown a bit of recovery from the immediate aftermath of the fines being issued.

Technical note: 

• Ipsos UK interviewed a representative quota sample of 1,038 adults aged 16-75 in Great Britain. Interviews took place on the online Omnibus using the Ipsos.Digital platform between 22nd and 23rd April 2022. Data are weighted to match the profile of the population. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error.