Rishi Sunak ‘losing advantage’ over Liz Truss among public – poll

The number of people saying the former chancellor would make a good prime minister fell over the last week of July.

Rishi Sunak and Liz Triuss (Peter Nicholls/Chris Lobina Sky/PA)

Rishi Sunak is losing his advantage over Liz Truss with the general public, new polling has found.

A poll from Ipsos showed the proportion of people saying they thought the former Chancellor would make a good prime minister fell from 38% to 32% in the last week of July.

Over the same period, Liz Truss’ figures have remained largely stable at 30%, giving Mr Sunak a lead of only two points over the Foreign Secretary.

Among Conservative voters, Mr Sunak’s fall has been even steeper.

More than half of 2019 Tory voters said he would be a good prime minister in a poll carried out on July 20-21, but that figure fell to just 42% 10 days later.

The reverse is true for Ms Truss, whose support among Tory voters rose from 46% to 53% over the same period.

Ms Truss’ name recognition also improved over July, with a third of the public now saying they know a great deal or a fair amount about her, while Mr Sunak’s considerable lead on the question of who is most likely to help the Tories win the next election has narrowed to just three points.

Keiran Pedley, director of politics at Ipsos, said: “Any public perception that the Conservatives would be more likely to win a general election under Rishi Sunak than Liz Truss appears to have disappeared.”

But greater name recognition has not been exclusively positive for Ms Truss.

While the proportion of the public saying she would be a good prime minister remained largely the same, the number thinking she would do a bad job rose from 27% to 32%, only just behind Mr Sunak’s figure.

Both candidates also trailed Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer across a range of issues including how likely they were to improve public services, tackle the cost of living and act with integrity.

The only subject on which Mr Sunak outpolled Sir Keir was on who was more likely to grow the economy, with the former chancellor two points ahead, while Ms Truss led only on the question of who was more likely to reduce taxes.

Growing the economy was also the only area where 2019 Conservatives thought Mr Sunak was more likely to be effective than Ms Truss.

Mr Pedley added: “Whoever wins faces a significant challenge in repairing the Conservative brand.

“The public are more likely to think a Starmer-led Labour government would reduce the cost of living and improve Britain’s public services, both key priorities for voters moving forward.”