Voters think Rishi Sunak would make a better prime minister than Liz Truss by a slim margin, a new poll has found. A survey put Mr Sunak only a few percentage points ahead of Ms Truss, suggesting the public's opinion on the two Conservative Party leadership candidates is split.
The poll by Opinium found 43% believe Mr Sunak would be a good prime minister compared to 36% for the Foreign Secretary. The results were based on a survey of 2,000 adults between July 20 and 22.
Meanwhile 49% of voters believe that Boris Johnson should leave Downing Street immediately to make way for a caretaker prime minister. And 45% see Mr Sunak as a “bad” prime minister, versus 41% for Ms Truss.
It also reveals that 34% want a prime minister who is in touch with ordinary people. The same proportion want someone who is trustworthy and 24% wanted “competence” in a leader.
Voters gave Mr Sunak the highest net score for competence at +9%. But he also polled –17% on trustworthiness and -38% on “being out of touch”.
Ms Truss polled better on those qualities, although she scored –12% on the question of looking like a prime minister in-waiting. The two remaining leadership candidates will go head-to-head in a televised BBC debate on Monday.
They will then meet again in a debate on July 26 hosted by The Sun and TalkTV. The pair have also signed up for a Sky debate on August 4.
