A look at Rishi Sunak’s approval ratings

How has the Chancellor fared over the last few months?

Ahead of Rishi Sunak’s appearance at the despatch box this afternoon for his 'not-a-significant-fiscal-event' fiscal event, its worth reminding ourselves how he has fared over the last few months.

There’s much more riding on Sunak’s announcement today than first meets the eye if he’s to be the government’s saviour and get them out of the public opinion doldrums they so clearly are in.

The Chancellor will appear in in the House of Commons later today to give his ‘summer statement’ outlining upcoming economic measures in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Savanta’s daily coronavirus tracker, the Chancellor’s net approval on his handling of the crisis currently sits at +21. For context, that is 35pts above the Prime Minister’s net approval rating, which has fallen to a staggering -14, the lowest since we began tracking back in March.

Sunak’s net approval hit heights of +55, around when he unveiled his package of measures to support the self-employed, arguably the final piece of the jigsaw in his first set of emergency measures.

The Chancellor’s approval rating has never dipped below +17. Again, for context, the Prime Minister’s own approval has only been that high once since the 10^th May – almost two months.

Savanta ComRes’s new monthly political tracker also tracks favourability ratings across those in government and opposition. Sunak’s net favourability of +29 in May and +26 in June have always been sizably ahead of the other Great Office of State holders.

While today’s announcement is likely to focus on jobs, and the Treasury continue to play down any potential ‘rabbits from hats’, rumours of a VAT cut for the hospitality sector will be welcomed by the public.

In June’s tracker, sector-specific help for pubs, bars and restaurants had net support of +23, and ‘other’ hospitality such as hotels had net support of +29 (compared to airlines, for example with +3 net support).

Let’s wait and see how much impact today’s announcement has on the Chancellor’s approval and favourability but, beyond that, is he the man to turn the whole government’s fortunes around?

Looking again at Savanta’s daily coronavirus tracker, the government’s approval rating is at -3 for the second day in a row – that’s the lowest we’ve seen it since we started tracking. The Prime Minister’s is at -14, his lowest rating by some distance.

Other members of Boris Johnson’s cabinet have also seen their approval ratings slide over the last week. Health Secretary, Matt Hancock (-7), Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab (-13), and Cabinet Office Minister, Michael Gove (-23) are all sitting in minus points and a long way off their colleague in the Treasury.

There’s much more riding on Sunak’s announcement today than first meets the eye if he’s to be the government’s saviour and get them out of the public opinion doldrums they so clearly are in.

Data from our daily Coronavirus tracker. Results can be found here.