Starmer’s ratings are generally getting better as the number of don’t knows declines

Starmer’s ratings are generally getting better as the number of don’t knows declines

We are now in the 7th week of Keir Starmer’s leadership of the Labour Party and he could take some comfort about the general direction of his leader ratings which historically have been a better guide to election outcomes than voting intention polling.

When Starmer first got the job on April 4th he was relatively unknown and that was reflected in the smallish proportion of those polled who had an opinion. Thus in his first week just 42% of those polled by Opinium gave a view. The latest poll, published at the weekend has 60% of the sample giving a view.

That latest poll had him overtake Johnson in the net figures – when you deduct the negative percentage from the positive one.

So far we have yet to see an Ipsos MORI satisfaction rating on the new leader. The firm has been asking it main leader rating question since the 1970s and it will be good when we see its figures to compare Starmer against other opposition leaders.

Starmer has taken over at what could be seen as a difficult time for an opposition leader wanting to make a mark. The news is so dominated by the pandemic that it is hard for Starmer to get a look in.

Mike Smithson

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