Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer’s manifestos could be key to gaining the backing of more voters, a new poll suggests.
The Ipsos survey for The Standard asked more than 1,000 people across Britain to say what most attracted them to a party, the party itself, its policies or leader.
Respondents were given ten points to divide up between these three options.
Top of the list was policies, getting an average of 4.1 points, followed by parties on on 3.7 and then leaders on 2.2.
The poll also showed that 49 per cent still say they do not know what the Labour leader stands for, with only 32 per cent disagreeing.
The respective figures for Mr Sunak are 41 per cent not knowing what he stands, down five points, and 38 per cent disagreeing.
So many voters are likely to be keen to learn more from the manifestos due to be launched shortly.
Labour chiefs were on Friday signing off the party’s manifesto, at a venue in central London, amid reports that it would include the party’s strongest commitment yet to a Palestinian state.
The leader total had fallen noticeably compared to previous elections and to its lowest going back to 1987 when Ipsos first asking this question when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister.
This drop was mainly down to a fall among Conservative supporters in stressing the importance of the leader, after the chaos of the brief Liz Truss administration, the partygate scandal under Boris Johnson, and Mr Sunak failing to close a poll gap of around 20 points behind Labour.
For Tory backers the score is now 2.1 points on average, compared to 3.3 when Boris Johnson was Prime Minister shortly before the December 2019 general election, 3.8 before Theresa May’s snap election in the spring of 2017, and 2.8 in April 2015 before David Cameron won a Commons majority at the poll in May.
Among Labour supporters, the leader figure is little changed on 2.2 points on average.
Gideon Skinner, Senior Director of Politics at Ipsos, said: “Obviously party leaders are important in a campaign, and get a lot of the focus, but they aren’t the only factor in voters’ minds.
“In fact, with neither leader particularly enthusing the public they could play a less important part in this election than usual – especially for Conservative voters (Brown and Blair were the last leaders to be particularly influential for Labour supporters).
He added: “Instead, party identity could be more significant this time, where the Conservatives won’t be helped by negative public views towards their party brand,, and so are policies – which voters often say are particularly key to their decision, although wider perceptions of competence will also play a role. This means the manifesto launch raises questions for both sides.
“The Conservatives need to overcome high levels of scepticism towards their record of delivery, amidst a severe lack of confidence in public services, ongoing concerns about the cost of living despite slightly better news on the economy, and on immigration and asylum.
“Labour meanwhile won’t want to risk the growing perception that they are ready for government, but also need to take the chance to persuade doubters who feel they don’t know what they stand for.”
The poll found the top issue for the election remains the NHS, with 35 per cent saying the health service will be very important to their vote, followed by a cluster of asylum/immigration (21 per cent), the economy (20 per cent), and cost of living (also 20 per cent).
Education is fifth at 14 per cent, followed by taxation on 12 per cent, housing 11 per cent, protecting the environment and climate change on ten per cent, lack of faith in politicians/system of government eight per cent, and foreign policy/foreign affairs seven per cent.
Public services generally, benefits, poverty/inequality all scored six per cent, with crime and anti-social behaviour/law and order on five per cent, as was pensions, and care for older and disabled people four per cent, defence four per cent, and unemployment three per cent.
Meanwhile, economic optimism has slipped slightly from last month but this is still better than it has been previously.
Twenty-eight per cent think the economy will improve (down five points), 26 per cent stay the same (up one point), and 37 per cent get worse (no change), giving a net Ipsos Economic Optimism Index of minus nine.
* Ipsos interviewed 1,014 adults in Britain between May 31 and June 4. Data are weighted. Full details at https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk
