Rishi Sunak rated behind Keir Starmer on the public’s most important attributes for PM

• 3 in 5 say policies for dealing with the cost of living, whether they understand the problems facing Britain, and their competency for the job are most important in informing their view of a potential Prime Minister
• Half have a negative impression of Rishi Sunak on his policies for the cost of living and whether he understands Britain’s problems, 4 in 10 are negative on his ability to do the job
• Starmer maintains his lead over Sunak in regular favourability ratings.

The latest Ipsos Political Pulse, conducted online between 30th June and 3rd July, asked the British public which what is very important to them in informing their opinions of a potential Prime Minister, and then how Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer are performing on these factors.

What makes a good Prime Minister, and how do the party leaders perform?

Almost three in five say that a politician’s policies to deal with the cost of living (59%), whether they understand the problems facing Britain (59%) and how competent they are to do the job (58%) are very important in informing their opinions on a potential Prime Minister. This is closely followed by whether or not they keep their promises (56%), their policies to improve Britain’s public services (55%) and their vision for Britain’s future (53%). 

Just one in nine (11%) said that their background, such as their family’s wealth or where they went to school, was very important to them.

While the top issues are all important to both parties’ 2019 voters, this is joined by policies on immigration and asylum for 2019 Conservative voters (mentioned by 58%, compared to 39% of 2019 Labour voters).

The public were then asked whether they had a positive or negative impression of both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer when it came to these factors. On 11 of the 13 factors, Keir Starmer has a better net positive rating than Rishi Sunak.
On the issues that the public were most likely to say were very important to them:

• Half have a negative impression (51%) when it comes to Rishi Sunak’s policies to deal with the cost of living, with 22% positive. This compares to Starmer where the public are split, with 28% positive impression to 29% negative. In terms of net positive impression Starmer (-1) has a big lead over Sunak (-29)
• Again half (50%) have a negative impression of whether Sunak understands the problems facing Britain (22% favourable). Meanwhile the public are split with 31% each saying they have a positive and negative impression of Starmer on this issue. This again gives Starmer a big lead on net positive impression over Sunak (0 to -28).
• Starmer also holds a lead over Sunak on his competence for the job of PM. 29% have a positive impression of Sunak’s competency (42% negative, net -13) compared to 31% for Starmer (35% negative, net -4).
• Neither politicians scores highly on whether or not they keep their promises. A quarter (24%) have a positive impression of Starmer when it comes to this, compared to 30% who are negative (-6 net positive). Whereas 43% have a negative impression of Sunak on whether or not he intends to keep his promises (18% positive; -25 net positive)
• When it comes to their policies to improve public services, the public are more likely to have a positive impression of Starmer than a negative one. A third (33%) are favourable towards the Labour leader, while a quarter (26%) are negative (net positive +7). Whereas 45% have a negative impression on Sunak’s policies to improve public services, with 21% positive (net positive -24).

Favourability ratings

Ipsos’ regular favourability ratings towards the leaders have also been updated. In terms of their net favourability scores, Keir Starmer (-7; a 3pt swing from May ‘23) has slightly extended his lead over Rishi Sunak (-21; -1.5 from May ‘23). For Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, 26% are favourable towards him (-2 from May), and 47% are unfavourable (+1). This matches his worst unfavourable scores since he became Prime Minister. For Keir Starmer 32% are favourable (+3 from May) and 39% are unfavourable (-3 from May). 

In terms of the favourability ratings for other notable politicians:

• 13 years since Ed Miliband beat his brother David to become leader of the Labour Party, the public are split in terms of net favourability (-13 for both). Both have better net favourability ratings than former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, with 19% favourable (-1 from Feb ’23) and 56% unfavourable (n/c from Feb ’23). 
• In terms of the Chancellor, 16% are favourable towards Jeremy Hunt (-3 from May), 46% are unfavourable (+1). His net satisfaction of -30 equals his worse since becoming Chancellor.
• Among other Cabinet Ministers, half (50%) are unfavourable towards Suella Braverman (+1 from May; 15% favourable – net satisfaction-35) and over a third are unfavourable towards Steve Barclay (13% Favourable, 36% unfavourable, n/c from May).

Gideon Skinner, Head of Political Research at Ipsos UK, said:

The public put dealing with the cost of living, understanding Britain’s problems and competence at the top of their list for judging a potential Prime Minister, and unfortunately for Rishi Sunak negative impressions outweigh positive ones for all of them.  Keir Starmer leads on most of the factors - albeit partly because he receives fewer negative scores, there is still room to improve his favourable ratings.  Keir Starmer’s strongest suit is probably policies to improve Britain’s public services, one of the key issues to Britons and one of the few where either party leader gets more positives than negatives.   Meanwhile in terms of our regular trackers Keir Starmer also maintains his lead over Rishi Sunak in general favourability ratings – in particular he has seen a boost among his own Labour voters this month.

Technical note:

Ipsos UK interviewed a representative sample of 1,087 GB adults aged 18+. Interviews were conducted online from 30 June – 3 July 2023.  Data are weighted to match the profile of the population. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error.