Rishi Sunak fails to win back Wales voters with Labour support at highest in a decade, poll reveals
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has failed to win the support of people in Wales after a poll revealed the majority didn't trust Liz Truss to make the right decisions the country.
Only one in five respondents backed the new Conservative leader to do the best for Wales and the public seem sceptical of Rishi Sunak's ability to help Welsh interests, the latest YouGov poll suggests.
And Labour support in Wales is at its highest since 2012, with 51% stating Westminster voting intention for the party, up from 46% in September.
From a sample size of 1,042 adults, voting intention overall has seen Labour make gains and Conservatives make losses.
Westminster voting intention:
Conservative - 18% (-5)Labour - 51% (+5)Lib Dem - 4% (-1)Plaid Cymru - 13% (-2)Reform UK - 8% (+3)Green - 4% (+1)Other - 2% (-1)
Dr Jac Larner, from Cardiff University's Welsh Governance Centre, says we’re seeing “historic” gaps in voting intention.
“This is the second joint worst poll ever for the Conservatives in Wales going back to as long as we’ve had polling - that’s 15 years.
“For the Labour Party, it's their joint third highest ever poll results for Westminster vote intention. And the gap between the two is now the second largest again that we've ever recorded.”
The Conservative predicted vote share in polling in Wales is around seven or eight points lower on average than other UK polls - which they’ve always done historically, Dr Larner says.
As well as swings to Labour, some Conservative voters have shifted to Reform UK, the party which began as the Brexit Party.
Those polled in Wales have shown a preference towards Kier Starmer over Rishi Sunak but support for the First Minister and Welsh Labour leader Mark Drakeford has dipped slightly since ITV Wales' last poll in September.
The majority of people (65%) do not trust the new PM Rishi Sunak to make the right decisions of Wales.
To what extent, if at all, do you trust Rishi Sunak’s government to make the right decisions for Wales?
41% of those polled say Mr Sunak is 'doing badly' as Prime Minister, with 32% saying he is performing well and 27% uncertain.
Support for opposition leader Keir Starmer in Wales is less clear. While 39% believe he is doing a good job as Leader of the Labour Party, 38% disagree and 23% didn't know either way.
Nearly half (49%) of those polled believe Mark Drakeford is doing a good job as First Minister of Wales. 35% believe he is doing badly and 16% didn't know.
Dr Larner says a lot of Conservative unpopularity may well be the “leftovers” of Liz Truss’ leadership.
He added: “A lot of this change is still a reaction to Liz Truss, and her unpopularity in her governance.
“But we're not really seeing any evidence of a kind of honeymoon period that people talk about when new Prime Ministers come into office.”
YouGov polled a representative sample of 1,042 Welsh voters, aged 16+, between November 25 - December 1 for ITV Cymru Wales and Cardiff University.