A majority of party members no longer backs the PM's response - down from a whopping 92% support in March.
Less than 50% of Tory party members back Boris Johnson’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, according to a new survey.
The rank-and-file site ConservativeHome reports from its member poll today:
“In March of this year, 92 per cent of ConservativeHome panel members said that they believed that Boris Johnson was dealing with Covid-19 well.
“His rating then slipped to 84 per cent in April; to 72 per cent in June, to 59 per cent in July – and now to 48 per cent.
“What’s driving this fall to a satisfaction rate of lower than half? Dissatisfaction with policy mess-ups, such as Coronavirus App? Bewilderment at changing social distancing rules? The schools results fiasco? Maybe the most simple explanation of all – voter fatigue?”
Support for the government’s performance overall among Tory members has also crashed – going from 92 per cent approval in March to just 46% now.
Awkwardly for Boris Johnson, Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s positive rating is 82 per cent – the same in effect as his 81 per cent last month. Sunak seems to be carrying the Government along. Perhaps he’ll be thanked with a demotion in an Autumn reshuffle…
The findings come as Labour close an enormous polling gap with the Tories – with the parties now level-pegging for the first time since July 2019. There is growing concern among Tory MPs over the Government’s handling of multiple recent scandals – from the A-Level downgrading fiasco to adviser Dominic Cummings’ lockdown breach.
Last week saw the highest number of daily coronavirus cases for 11 weeks, with over 1,500 testing positive in one day.
Josiah Mortimer is co-editor of Left Foot Forward.
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