Keir Starmer’s popularity falls just six weeks after he was elected

Harry Warner

The information was collected via poll

The popularity of Sir Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has already fallen just six weeks after he was elected.

For 14 years the Labour party had to settle as the opposition to the Conservatives who held government until 4 July 2024 when people decided they wanted change.

The win came as a huge moment for Starmer and the party, however, just six weeks into his tenure his popularity has already taken a dip.

The poll was carried out by Ipsos between the 9 and 12 August.

At his time of election, the Labour leader had an approval rating of +7, but following this recent poll he now sits at a neutral 0 with 38% of people thinking of the PM favourably as they do unfavourably.

Keir Starmer is the only politician in the UK with a non-negative approval rating. Credit: Getty

In keeping with classic British pessimism, the survey found that 52% of Brits think the UK is heading in the wrong direction while only 22% believe the country is on the road to success.

Despite the drop in popularity for Starmer, he still remains by far the most popular politician in the UK and sits 10 points higher than Rishi Sunak did at the same stage in his time as Prime Minister, although following different circumstances.

Sunak sat on -10 following his entry into Number 10, however, that would end up being his highest rating as he now sits at a lowly -38.

Starmer remains the only UK politician who the public has been quizzed on with a non-negative rating, with the rest of the Labour cabinet sitting in the minuses.

Gideon Skinner, senior director of UK politics at Ipsos, noted the slight change in opinion surrounding the new government.

He said: “There are signs of a small increase in public criticism of Labour, the Prime Minister and other key Cabinet ministers this month, but just as important for their longer-term prospects is the level of pessimism around the state of the country.

“This is not as bad as it was under the Conservatives, but half of Britons still think things are going in the wrong direction, and delivering on the public’s desire for improvements will be key when the honeymoon period ends.”

The poll conducted by Ipsos was undertaken in the wake of heavy riots across the UK, impacting many people’s thoughts on the country.

However, the public opinion specialist asked people how they thought the government had dealt with the riots with 49% saying it had handled them badly while 31% said the opposite.

Meanwhile in recent days a poll by The Observer found that 43% approved of the handling of the riots with 30% disapproving.

As the Labour government ventures deeper into its term, time will tell just how these numbers will be affected.