Boris Johnson’s approval rating has plunged by 20 points in four days, amid the ongoing Dominic Cummings scandal, according to new polling.
Public opinion on both the prime minister and his government has turned rapidly after Mr Cummings admitted to having driven to Durham despite the coronavirus lockdown.
Overall government approval turned negative, to -2 per cent, according to data from polling group Savanta ComRes. That represents a drop of 16 points in just a single day.
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Mr Johnson’s approval also turned negative as the scandal continued. it dropped from +19 per cent to -1 per cent since Friday, the same data showed.
Public opinion of individual ministers such as Matt Hancock, the health secretary, and chancellor Rishi Sunak also fell. Both ministers publicly backed Mr Cummings over the weekend.
At the same time, approval ratings for Labour leader Keir Starmer and medical advisors Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance increased over the weekend, the same data showed.
The latest polling figures reveal that the Prime Minister’s approval rating has dropped more than 35 points since the start of May, and is down by 48 points from its peak on 8 April.
In that same time period, Sir Keir’s approval rating fluctuated between 21 per cent and 3 per cent. It is currently at 12 per cent – nearly double its previous figure of 7 per cent.
The amount of worry about the coronavirus outbreak also dramatically plunged over the same period, to the lowest level of concern since the organisation began tracking.
The number of people saying they were very worried or the most worried they have ever been dropped by 9 points in just two days.
