Three-quarters of voters consider mega-rich Rishi Sunak is out of contact

Three-quarters of voters believe Rishi Sunak is out of touch while less than 10% think he understands ordinary people, a new poll shows.

The findings come just days after the mega-rich Prime Minister was ridiculed after claiming he went without lots of things as a kid – including Sky TV. Mr Sunak, who attended Winchester, one of the country’s most expensive boarding schools, made the remark in a cringe-inducing interview with ITV as he was quizzed on his vast wealth.

Last month it emerged Mr Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty’s personal fortune soared to £651million – an increase of more than £120million over the past year – overtaking the wealth of the King. A poll for The Mirror by Whitestone Insight found 75% believed Mr Sunak was “out of touch” – compared with 37% for Keir Starmer.

The survey also asked voters about other characteristics they associate with the two leaders, with Mr Starmer leading the PM on being “patriotic”, “understands ordinary people”, being “competent” and “statesmanlike”. On understanding ordinary people, Mr Starmer had a major lead of 38% compared to a meagre 8% for the Tory leader.
One in four (40%) associated the Labour leader with being “patriotic” while just 23% said so for Mr Sunak.

It also found 38% of voters think Mr Starmer is competent – compared to 22% for Mr Sunak. More voters also said the Labour leader was “statesmanlike” – 31% compared to 20% for the PM.

Lachlan Rurlander of Whitestone Insight said: “These results show that Rishi Sunak ‘s narrative of ‘the plan is working’ is not cutting through to voters. Almost twice as many voters see Sir Keir Starmer as competent compared to Rishi Sunak.

“The D-Day episode has clearly impacted how patriotic voters view him too. Worst for Sunak is that 40% of Conservative voters see him as out of touch.”

On Sunday Transport Secretary Mark Harper insisted the Tories still think they’re in with a chance of victory. He told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News: “We’re fighting for every vote, we’re fighting to win this election.”

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting also warned against taking anything for granted. “I just warn people, against this backdrop of breathtaking complacency in the media about the opinion polls, do not give the matches back to the arsonist to finish the job,” he said.

:: Whitestone Insight interviewed 2014 GB adults online between 12th and 13th June 2024. Data were weighted to be representative of all adults ::