This nation disapproves

By Ian Silvera, Account Director

Boris Johnson’s new administration, which once saw heady approval ratings of 59%, is no longer in the net satisfaction game. 

Somewhere between the 16th and 18th of May, and most interestingly before The Mirror and The Guardian broke the news on the 22nd of May that the Prime Minister’s top aide, Dominic Cummings, travelled to Durham, the British public turned negative on their Conservative leaders. 

There have been four rounds of YouGov’s weekly tracker since then and they have all come back negative, with the government’s disapproval rating at its second worst level (46%) as of the 16th of June. 

The figures represent a personal blow for Johnson, who likes to be liked, and his wider top team of Tories as they try to get the UK’s economy back on track, all the while avoiding a second Covid-19 outbreak wave. It is clear that disapproval has become a trend, rather than an outlier, in the polling data. 

It’s no wonder, then, that rumours of a Cabinet reshuffle are doing the rounds – even in lockdown, Westminster, whether in person or from behind a video screen, is a hotbed of gossip. 

As for global perceptions of how governments have dealt with the virus, China is winning that popularity contest as more than 60% of people from around the world said that Xi Jinping’s administration had responded well to the crisis. The survey, of over 120,000 respondents from 53 countries by German pollster Dalia, was commissioned by the Alliance of Democracies Foundation. 

In Australia, meanwhile, people appear to have adjusted to life under Covid-19, but remain concerned about undoing all the good work by lifting restrictions too early, according to our colleagues at Newgate Australia. 

Their weekly tracker, taken between the 15th and 17th of June, showed that there is still a high level of concern (65% extremely or quite concerned) that the Federal government needs to guard against a possible second wave. 

“Results suggest there is currently a strong level of trust in the Federal and state governments, with the community willing to follow their lead regardless of where they live or the different level of restrictions that apply in their state,” the survey found. 

Finally, in the US, where the White House election looms and the long-campaign continues, Democrat nominee Joe Biden has taken an 11-point lead over President Donald Trump amid the continual Black Lives Matter protests and his government’s ongoing response to the novel coronavirus. 

A national poll average, however, is ever so slightly more positive for the Commander-in-Chief, putting Biden on a 8.9% lead over Trump. All polls, however, are snapshots and not forecasts, so don’t go betting the house on the former Vice President just yet.