Voters believe Rishi Sunak would make a better PM, UK opinion poll finds

Almost half of the voters for the U.K.’s governing Conservative Party believe Rishi Sunak will make a good Prime Minister, according to the results of a new opinion poll on July 17.

‘The Sunday Telegraph’ reports that the JL Partners poll of more than 4,400 people found that 48% of those who backed the Tories in the 2019 general election felt the British Indian former Chancellor would be a good Prime Minister. 

This is also the first poll that puts Foreign Secretary Liz Truss in second place, with 39% backing her for Prime Minister and 33% in favour of Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt.

The survey comes as the race to elect Boris Johnson’s successor as the next Conservative Party leader is narrowing down to these three main contenders, with former Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch and Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Tom Tugendhat in fourth and fifth place, respectively.

According to James Johnson, co-founder of JL Partners and a former pollster for Downing Street, "the overwhelming attitude is one of neutrality among people who have heard of Ms. Mordaunt," he told the newspaper.

Sunak encourages passionate opinions. A third of people believe he would be successful in the presidency, while a third do not. But this score draw makes him the crowd favourite in a polarising field where every other contender is in net-negative zone. He is the only contender to have half of the crucial 2019 Conservative voter support, making him very popular with this group, the man claimed.

All voters ranked "turning the economy around" as their top policy priority, with "fixing the NHS backlog" and "restoring trust and integrity in public life" coming in second and third, respectively.

The fourth priority was chosen by 38% of voters overall and 40% of Conservative voters, and it has become a major topic of discussion in all of the discussions thus far.

A new leader who is "truthful" is what 19 percent of Conservative supporters and 24 percent of voters generally most want, according to a JL Partners poll that also examined the qualities respondents want in a leader.

According to the study, which was conducted last week, the opposition Labour Party leads the Conservatives by 11 points, with 42 to the Tories' 31.

“While the public chew over the economy, the NHS and public trust, Conservative MPs may have a much simpler question: who is the best candidate to hold their seat? On this evidence, the answer is Mr Mr. Sunak,” added Mr. James Johnson.

In 76 percent of the seats won by the Tories in the previous general election, which was over two years ago, Mr. Sunak had the highest net approval score among all voters, according to an MRP model that maps poll results onto every seat in the nation, compared to Mr. Tugendhat in 19 percent of those seats and Ms. Mordaunt in 5 percent.

The 42-year-old Mr. Sunak won the first two rounds of voting among Tory MPs last week, and the upcoming voting rounds are expected to further reduce the field, leaving only two candidates by Thursday.

While Ms. Mordaunt has received some support from the Conservative Party members who will ultimately make the decision, Mr. Sunak is still the obvious favourite among Conservative MPs.

However, a survey conducted overnight of 850 Conservative members for the Conservative Home website put Ms. Badenoch in the lead with 31%, followed by Ms. Truss on 20%, Ms. Mordaunt on 18%, Mr. Sunak on 17%, and Mr. Tugendhat on 10%.

Around 1,60,000 eligible Tory party members will receive postal ballots, and those ballots will determine the victor and the new prime minister, who will be unveiled on September 5.