Voters who backed Tories at last election more likely to vote Conservative if Boris is next PM

Voters who backed the Tories at the last election would be more likely to vote Conservative again if Boris Johnson becomes the next Prime Minister, a YouGov poll has found.

Polling of 1700 people, done on Thursday and Friday, also found that only 34% of those who voted for the Tories last time would do so again, with 14% saying they would switch to Labour. 

The analysis found that among those voters, 68% think Mr Johnson would do a good job as PM compared with 57% for Rishi Sunak.

Those who felt that Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak would do a bad job was considerably lower, at 26% and 28% respectively.

Currently, Rishi Sunak has 114 MPs publicly backing him to be the next Prime Minister while Boris Johnson has 54 and Penny Mordaunt has 23, though it has also been reported that the former PM has 100 supporters. 

YouGov analysis found that among those voters, 68% think Mr Johnson would do a good job as PM compared with 57% for Rishi Sunak

Those who felt that Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak would do a bad job was considerably lower, at 26% and 28% respectively 

This comes as Mr Sunak is set to announce his bid for the leadership as Mr Johnson cut his family holiday short to fly back to the UK from the Dominican Republic. 

British elections expert and former Vote Leave Chief Executive Matthew Elliott said: ‘While Rishi Sunak is disliked less by diehard Labour and Liberal Democrat voters who will never vote Conservative, Boris Johnson remains the overwhelming preference of the voters that the Conservative Party needs to win back to have any hope of winning the next general election. 

‘The Conservatives needs to reengage with the coalition of voters they attracted in 2019, and Boris Johnson is best placed to achieve that objective.’ 

The popularity of Mr Johnson among Conservative voters is also apparent as just 17% think Mr Sunak would do a ‘very good job’ compared with 33% saying the same of the former PM.

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Currently, Rishi Sunak has 114 MPs publicly backing him to be the next Prime Minister while Boris Johnson has 54 and Penny Mordaunt has 23, though it has also been reported that the former PM has 100 supporters

Of all nine candidates polled, Boris was the most popular.

The analysis found that Conservative voters are disengaged, with only 59% saying they would definitely vote at the next election, compared with 80% of Labour voters and 77% of Liberal Democrat voters. 

Mr Johnson arrived back in the UK at 10.18am following an overnight flight from the Dominican Republic where ‘one or two boos’ were heard.

While Johnson-supporters have said he has the 100 backers needed to be on the ballot on Monday, key allies such as Lord Frost and Steve Barclay have backed Mr Sunak, in a ‘blow’ for the PM.