Public divided on whether Rishi Sunak will do a good job as Prime Minister

• 36% think Rishi Sunak would do a good job as PM, against 32% saying bad job
• 42% say Keir Starmer would do a good job if he became PM, 28% say bad job

New polling by Ipsos in the UK, taken before Rishi Sunak won the Conservative leadership race (19-20 October), shows just over one in three (36%) think he would do a good job as Prime Minister, while a similar proportion (32%) expect him to do a bad job. These numbers are similar to what he received in August (32% said good job, 35% said bad job).

Mr Sunak starts his premiership slightly behind the Labour leader Keir Starmer. Over two in five (42%) expect Starmer would do a good job (+2 since early September), against 28% who say a bad job (+1).  However, he is ahead of his other Conservative leadership rivals, Boris Johnson, who 31% say would do a good job versus 45% a bad job, and Penny Mordaunt, who fewer have an opinion on with 19% predicting her to perform well and 30% badly.

Keir Starmer also galvanises his own party supporters more at this stage, with two in three (65%) 2019 Labour supporters thinking he would do a good job, while nearer half (54%) of 2019 Conservatives say the same about Mr Sunak. A very similar proportion said the same about Boris Johnson (52%), while nearer a quarter (26%) said the same about Penny Mordaunt who again suffered from lack of name recognition.

Elsewhere in the polling:

• A third (33%) expect a Conservative government under Rishi Sunak to do a better job than Liz Truss’ government, against 36% saying it would make no difference and 17% saying it would do worse.
• When asked about a Labour government led by Keir Starmer, two in five (41%) say it would do a better job than Liz Truss’ government, against 23% saying there would be no difference and 22% worse.
• Liz Truss’ government ends with three in four (76%) saying she did a bad job as Prime Minister, while only 8% think she did a good job.
• As rumours circulate about whether Jeremy Hunt will remain as Chancellor, the public are reserving judgement on his performance: 27% say he has been doing a bad job, 22% a good job and 36% neither.

Ipsos Director of Politics Keiran Pedley, said of the findings:

In choosing Rishi Sunak as the next Prime Minister, the Conservative Party have picked the candidate with the widest appeal of the suggested runners and riders. However, the jury is out on Sunak to some degree and his success in office will ultimately depend on whether he can unite his party and deliver against the public’s priorities, dealing with the cost of living, growing the economy and improving Britain’s public services.

Technical note

Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,037 Britons aged 18-75. Interviews were conducted online from 19-20 October 2022. Data are weighted to match the profile of the population. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error.