ONLY a quarter of British people think that Labour and the Conservatives keep their promises, with two-thirds believing the parties will promise anything to stay in favour of voters.
The figures, which were released today in the Ipsos MORI Political Monitor report, show that the Labour party saw a fall in public image since 2017. Only 23% of Britons say they prefer Jeremy Corbyn to Boris Johnson – compared to 44% preferring Johnson over Corbyn.
Corbyn and the Labour party are both less liked than in September 2018 (down 9 and 8 points respectively) and Corbyn’s likeability ratings are the worst Ipsos MORI has seen for a Labour or Conservative leader since 2007.
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Both Labour and the Conservatives were deemed unreliable on their promises with 25% and 26% of people respectively believing they would stick to them.
Three-quarters of people thought that Labour are divided – the highest figure for all the parties. Labour’s image has worsened on a number of aspects since 2017, including understanding Britain’s problems (-7 points), having a good team of leaders (-9), being fit to govern (-9), and being more divided and extreme (+13).
The Tories managed to remain in public favour but are now perceived as being more extreme (+5) and would promise anything to win votes (+7).
The Liberal Democrats have the lowest scores on keeping their promises (18%), but are also seen as less divided (28%) or extreme (23%) than the other parties.
Gideon Skinner, head of politics at Ipsos MORI, said: “Labour’s troubles when it comes to public ratings of its leader are not new, although Jeremy Corbyn is starting from a lower base than in 2017. But what this research shows is how the image of the party as a whole has been damaged over the last two years.
“Labour is now seen as more divided than the Conservatives, are seen as more extreme than in 2017, and have fallen further behind on competence ratings like being fit to govern and having a good team of leaders. They are though still seen as more of the party of the heart if not the head – the public thinks they are the more compassionate and are still the most liked party, although even this has dropped over the last year.
“The question is whether they can overcome the public’s wider doubts during the rest of the campaign. The Conservatives also have their own issues – they are not very liked beyond their own support, are also seen as divided, and there is scepticism they will keep their promises, though they are mostly either showing little change or showing small improvements compared with under Theresa May.”
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