Brown one year on: Approval rating plummeting
|
Ipsos MORI's June Political Monitor represents the first wave of our move to a monthly Political Monitor carried out via telephone rather than face-to-face. This decision was undertaken to ensure a speedy fieldwork period and a highly robust sample. We have done a great deal of review and experimentation, and are confident that our 30 years of trends will not be adversely affected by this change. Further details of this methodological review are available on our website.
|
Brown's first year in office has seen the fastest fall in personal ratings for a Prime Minister ever recorded. His ratings are currently as low as John Major's were after Black Wednesday, in the years before Labour's 1997 victory under Tony Blair. Brown's first year also sees the deepest economic gloom Ipsos MORI has recorded since 1980: seven in ten people (69%) now believe that the general economic condition of the country will get worse over the next 12 month.
June's data, carried out between 13-15 June among 1,012 adults age 18 and over, shows the Conservative party on 45% and the Labour party on 28%, a Conservative lead of 17 points.
Other key findings from this month include:
- Almost three quarters (73%) of the public are now dissatisfied with the way the Government is running the country, and just one in five (21%) are satisfied
- Seven in ten (70%) are dissatisfied with the way Gordon Brown is doing his job as Prime Minister
- Among Labour supporters, equal numbers are satisfied and dissatisfied with Mr Brown (45%)
- Half the population (50%) is satisfied with the way David Cameron is doing his job as leader of the Conservative Party, and three in ten (30%) dissatisfied, while one in five (21%) don't know
- 82% of Conservative supporters are satisfied with Mr Cameron, and just 9% are dissatisfied (and 35% of Labour supporters are satisfied with Mr Cameron, compared to just 9% of Conservative supporters satisfied with Mr Brown)
- A third (33%) are satisfied with the way Nick Clegg is doing his job as leader of the Liberal Democrats, and a quarter (24%) are dissatisfied
- Almost two-thirds (63%) of Liberal Democrat supporters are satisfied with Mr Clegg, and 14% are dissatisfied
- Seven in ten people (69%) now believe that the general economic condition of the country will get worse over the next 12 months; this is the lowest score Ipsos MORI has recorded since March 1980
Download the June topline results here
Download the June tables here
Download the full June charts here
Voting Intention data since February 2003 is available here
Technical Details
Ipsos MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 1,012 adults aged 18+ across Great Britain. Interviews were conducted by telephone 13th-15th June 2008. Data are weighted to match the profile of the population.
Where percentages do not sum to 100, this may be due to computer rounding, the exclusion of "don't know" categories, or multiple answers. An asterisk (*) denotes any value of less than half a per cent. Voting intention figures exclude those who say they would not vote, are undecided or refuse to name a party.
Ipsos MORI contacts
Sir Robert Worcester - Email
Ben Page - Email
Julia Clark - Email
Dr Roger Mortimore - Email