Three British opinion polls released this Saturday paint a bleak picture for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party. One official warned that the party would face “electoral annihilation” in the July 4 election.
The polls come a week after both the Conservatives and Labor parties presented their manifestos, shortly after the halfway mark of the election campaign and just before voters start receiving postal ballots.
Sunak surprised many in his own party by announcing snap elections on May 22, against widespread expectations that he would wait until the end of the year to restore living standards after inflation hit a 40-year high.
Polling firm Savanta found 46% of voting intentions were for Keir Starmer’s Labor Party, up 2 points on the poll five days earlier, while support for the Conservatives fell 4 points to 21%. The poll was conducted for the Sunday Telegraph from June 12 to 14.
Labor has a 25-point lead since the government of Sunak’s predecessor, Liz Truss, whose tax cut plans drove investors into British government debt, raised interest rates and forced the Bank to intervene.
“Our research suggests that this election could be nothing short of electoral doom for the Conservative Party,” said Chris Hopkins, Savannah’s director of political research.
A separate Sarvation poll published by the Sunday Times predicted the Conservatives would end up with just 72 seats in the 650-member House of Commons – the lowest in the party’s nearly 200-year history – while Labor would win 456 seats.
In percentage terms, the Sarvation poll shows Labor intentions to vote at 40%, the Conservatives at 24%, while Nigel Farage’s far-right Reform UK Party – the Conservatives’ right-wing opponent – is at 12%.
A third poll conducted by Opinium for the Sunday Observer from 12 to 14 June found Labor at 40% voting intention, the Conservatives at 23% and the Reformers at 14%. For smaller competitors.
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