Following Boris Johnson’s leadership speech today at the
Conservative Party Conference, Opinium’s snap
poll1 finds two-fifths (44%) think he came across
like he’s in touch with people’s concerns, compared to two in five
(60%) who felt this way about following his speech last week.
Respondents to the poll were shown a video of the highlights of
the speech and then asked a series of questions about how Johnson
came across. Fieldwork was conducted over the past couple of
hours, and Opinium spoke to 1305 people in total. The data is
weighted to be representative of the adult population.
The speech certainly appealed to Johnson’s core supporters and
the party faithful and just over half (51%) of the British public
said they generally agreed with what he had to say. However, when
directly compared Starmer came out on top, with 62% stating they
felt he came across as competent, compared to only 49% who felt
this way about Boris.
Similarly, there is a gulf when looking at whether the leaders
care about ordinary people. Following his speech today 46% said
Johnson came across like he cares about ordinary people, compared
to 68% who said they felt this way about Starmer last week.
Overall, Johnson’s speech was not received as well as Starmer’s,
with Opinium calculating an overall score out of ten based on
their polling responses – with Johnson scoring 4.7 and Starmer
scoring 5.9. Johnson’s score is lower than his first conference
speech in 2019 (4.4) and Corbyn’s first in 2015
(5.1)2.
|
|
Johnson 2021
|
Starmer 2021
|
|
Agree with what he had to say
|
51%
|
63%
|
|
Disagree with what he had to say
|
41%
|
29%
|
|
|
|
|
|
He came across as strong
|
53%
|
57%
|
|
He came across as weak
|
30%
|
26%
|
|
|
|
|
|
He came across as competent
|
49%
|
62%
|
|
He came across as incompetent
|
37%
|
23%
|
|
|
|
|
|
He came across like he cares about ordinary people
|
46%
|
68%
|
|
He came across like he doesn’t care about ordinary people
|
42%
|
19%
|
|
|
|
|
|
He came across like he’s in touch with people’s concerns
|
44%
|
60%
|
|
He came across like he’s out of touch with people’s
concerns
|
45%
|
29%
|
|
|
|
|
|
He came across as interesting
|
40%
|
41%
|
|
He came across as boring
|
22%
|
28%
|
|
|
|
|
|
SCORE
|
4.7
|
5.9
|
Chris Curtis, Senior Research Manager at Opinium
comments: "The prime minister will come away from
Manchester pleased that his speech received positive reviews from
voters, but if it was a horse race we would be calling 's speech in Brighton the
winner.
“This is partly because is a much more divisive
figure than , so it is harder for the prime
minister to win plaudits from outside of the Conservative fold.
However, with the vast majority of Conservatives approving of his
speech, Johnson can rest assured he has pleased his base for
another year."
-ENDS-
1Opinium Research carried out an online survey of
1,305 UK adults aged 18+ on
06th October 2021. Results have been
weighted to representative criteria.
2Opinium Research carried out an online survey of
1,330 UK adults aged 18+ on 29th September 2021.
Results have been weighted to representative criteria.
All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of
error. On the basis of the historical record of the polls at
recent general elections, there is a 9 in 10 chance that the true
value of a party’s support lies within 4 points of the estimates
provided by this poll, and a 2 in 3 chance that they lie within 2
points.
