ALMOST half of UK voters do not approve of the job Boris Johnson is doing as Prime Minister, an opinion poll has indicated.
The Prime Minister’s net approval rating has fallen to -16%, down from -13% a fortnight ago and the lowest recorded by pollster Opinium.
The research was carried out through an online survey of 2000 UK adults from August 5-6 and the results were weighted to representative criteria.
Some 34% of those surveyed approved of the job the Prime Minister is doing, while 49% disapproved – up two percentage points in a fortnight.
After rounding, that leaves him with a -16% rating, the lowest in the 53 times the pollster has asked the question.
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The decline in Johnson’s personal rating came despite an increase in support for the UK Government’s handling of the pandemic, from a net -16% a fortnight ago to -9%.
The Tory poll lead remains relatively stable, dropping by one point over the past fortnight to 42% with Labour unchanged at 35%.
Keir Starmer will take little comfort from the poll, with the Labour leader’s net approval rating also dropping from -6% to -11%, its joint-lowest in the Opinium series.
Adam Drummond, Opinium’s head of political polling, said: “It’s only after rounding, but our latest poll shows Boris Johnson with his lowest approval rating of any of the 53 times we have asked the question since he became Prime Minister.
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“While the so-called ‘vaccine bounce’ he has been enjoying in recent months may be over, the Conservatives still enjoy a comfortable seven-point lead in the polls – partly off the back of Starmer’s similarly poor ratings.
“But even as his ratings do drop, the Prime Minister should never be written off. He has bounced back from poor polling numbers before, and he may be able to do so again.”
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