A new survey on Thursday confirmed that Foreign Secretary Liz Truss leads former Chancellor Rishi Sunak by 32 points in the fight for the leadership of the Conservative Party, but it also revealed that many Tory members still like outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
After excluding the Tory members who are unsure or won’t vote, the YouGov poll conducted for Sky News finds that 66% of members support Truss and 34% support the former minister who is British Indian.
A majority of respondents to the poll support former leader Boris Johnson, with 55% believing that Tory MPs erred in forcing him to leave and 40% believing that they were correct.
According to Sky News’ poll analysis, the poll shows that the current Prime Minister is still held in high regard by Conservative members and that they may compare any potential successor to him unfavorably.
46% of respondents said they would support Johnson if he were still running alongside Sunak and Truss, compared to 24% and 23% for the other candidates.
Likewise, 44% believe Johnson would make the finest prime minister, followed by 24% for Truss and 23% for Sunak.
Nearly twice as many Tory members believe Johnson has a good chance of defeating Keir Starmer, the leader of the opposition Labour party, in a general election.
Only 13% of voters say they haven’t made up their minds about how they’ll vote or won’t be voting, which is insufficient to give him a last-minute advantage before the online and postal polls close on September 2.
68% of those who have already cast ballots say they voted for Truss, while 31% say they voted for Sunak.
44 percent of those who have not yet cast their ballots say they will support Truss, 29 percent say they will support Sunak, and 26 percent are unsure.
Truss’ path is not without obstacles, as the poll also revealed that 40% of Conservative members thought a hung Parliament or a Labour majority would come from her victory.
In the poll on the subject of financial assistance to aid with the cost-of-living crisis, it is clear that Truss would face further difficulties.
Truss, 47, has placed a higher priority on enacting tax cuts than fighting inflation.
However, 63 percent believe that controlling inflation, which is Sunak’s policy objective, should come first, while 33 percent believe that lowering people’s taxes should come first.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank cautioned that as the economy’s prognosis worsens, significant, long-term tax cuts may increase pressure on the public purse.
Sunak, 42, has said that he will only cut taxes “once we’ve gripped inflation” and warned that Truss’ pledge to immediately slash taxes is unaffordable and won’t help those on low incomes.
The IFS warns that, at a time when greater public spending is required for a faltering UK economy, both candidates’ policies may end up being untenable without spending reductions.
The results are expected to be announced on September 5, and the two candidates will keep campaigning to try and sway voters who are still undecided.
