INDEPENDENT / SUNDAY MIRROR POLITICAL POLL DECEMBER 2016

Favourability Index and Globalisation Questions

• Appearing on Strictly Come Dancing has done wonders for perceptions of Ed Balls, as his favourability rating has moved from -39 in January 2015 when he was Shadow Chancellor, to -11 today
• His political opposite number, George Osborne, over the same period has seen his ratings slide from -26 to -39
• Even Conservative voters are more likely to have an unfavourable view of George Osborne than a favourable one (32% to 27%)
• The other major improver, and since August 2016, is President-Elect Donald Trump whose favourability rating has improved from -69 to -52 (although he still has the worst score in the poll)
• Having Boris as Foreign Secretary will help Theresa May retain UKIP voters, who are more likely than Conservative voters to have a favourable view of him (56% to 53%)
• 54% of UKIP voters have a favourable view of their new leader Paul Nuttall which compares to 78% of Conservative voters who have a favourable view of Theresa May and 58% of Labour voters who have a favourable view of Jeremy Corbyn
• Philip Hammond has yet to make much of an impression on his own party, with only 28% of Conservative voters who say they have a favourable view of him, and14% whose view is unfavourable

 

The NET score ranking is as follows:

1.    Theresa May +11 (and so the only politician with a positive NET score, albeit she is seven points down on August)

2.    Boris Johnson -6

3.    Ed Balls -11

4.    The Conservative Party -12

5.    Philip Hammond -12

6.    The Labour Party -17

7.    John McDonnell -19

8.    Nigel Farage -26

9.    Jeremy Corbyn -26

10.  Paul Nuttall -32

11.  George Osborne -39

12.  Donald Trump -52

 

Favourability Index

1. Do you have a favourable or unfavourable opinion of each of the following?

	Favourable	Unfavourable	Neither	Don’t know	NET (Fav-Unfav)
Theresa May	41% (-1)	30% (+6)	23% (-3)	6% (-2)	+11
Boris Johnson	33% (-3)	39% (+2)	23% (+1)	5% (-)	-6
George Osborne	13% (-6)	52% (+7)	28% (+3)	7% (-1)	-39
The Conservative Party	32% (+1)	44% (+2)	20% (-1)	4% (-2)	-12
Paul Nuttall (NEW)	10%	42%	29%	18%	-32
The Labour Party	28% (+2)	45% (-1)	22% (-)	5% (-1)	-17
Nigel Farage	25% (+1)	51% (-)	19% (-1)	4% (-1)	-26
Jeremy Corbyn	24% (+2)	50% (-)	21% (-)	6% (-1)	-26
Philip Hammond	15% (+1)	27% (+5)	38% (+4)	21% (-8)	-12
Ed Balls	21% (+9)	32% (-19)	36% (+8)	11% (+3)	-11
Donald Trump	13% (+6)	65% (-11)	17% (+5)	6% (+1)	-52
John McDonnell	8% (+2)	27% (+3)	29% (-)	37% (-3)	-19

Changes since August 2016 except * denotes January 2015 results for Balls and Osborne (the last time they were directly compared)

 

Tax & Economy Questions

 

Statement		Don’t know		Statement
I am prepared to pay more tax if it was spent only on helping young homeless people	35%	19%	46%	I am not prepared to pay more tax even if it was spent only on helping young homeless people
Globalisation has pushed wages lower for British workers	49%	29%	23%	Globalisation has not pushed wages lower for British workers
Globalisation has led to more jobs being created	38%	31%	31%	Globalisation has led to fewer jobs being created
Globalisation has led to more inequality between rich and poor	51%	29%	21%	Globalisation has led to less inequality between rich and poor
Technology is helping to bridge the gap between rich and poor in Britain	32%	28%	40%	Technology is widening the gap between rich and poor in Britain
Low interest rates have helped the rich get richer while the poor get poorer	51%	23%	26%	Low interest rates have benefited poorer people more than the rich

Date Published: 10 December 2016

Categories: Audience | Economy | Economy | GB | Issues | Media | Politics | Public and communities | Voting Intention

Client: Independent / Sunday Mirror

Methodology

ComRes interviewed 2,040 GB adults online on 7 and 8 December 2016.  Data were weighted to be demographically representative of all GB adults and by past vote recall.

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