UK PM race: New survey gives Liz Truss wider lead over Rishi Sunak

LONDON: A new survey of Conservative Party members who will vote to choose a new Tory leader to succeed Boris Johnson as UK Prime Minister, on Wednesday shows the UK Foreign Secretary’s lead widening. Liz Truss end Rishi Sunak in the leadership contest.
A YouGov poll for ‘The Times’, conducted over the past five days, shows that Truss’ lead over Sunak has risen to 38 points, with Room The minister currently holds 69% of the title vote, for former British India Prime ministeris 31%.
These numbers were 62% and 38% respectively in the previous YouGov poll on July 20, at the end of the first knockout phase of the leadership contest.
“At the start of the campaign membership phase, 21% of Tory members were either unsure how they would vote or pledged not to do so. That number has since dropped to 13%, with Truss appearing to be the bigger beneficiary,” YouGov said of the latest figures.
“Worse for Sunak, very few supporters of his opponent seem like they can be persuaded to join his side. 83% of those who currently say they intend to vote for Truss say they are determined on the issue; only 17% said they could still change their mind,” it noted.
“It has been clear since our first poll of Conservative members for this leadership election that Rishi Sunak faces an uphill struggle,” it added.
According to ‘The Times’, about 60% of party members said they would vote for Truss, with 26% supporting Sunak and the rest undecided or saying they would not vote.
The poll showed Truss ahead of Sunak in all age groups, across different parts of the country and between men and women.
The only category in which the former Prime Minister beat Truss was among the Tories who supported Remain in the 2016 European Union (EU) referendum. Ironically, it was Sunak who supported Brexit, while Truss lobbied for Camp Remain.
The survey also revealed widespread discontent among party members over how Boris Johnson was ousted from No 10 Downing Street and showed the outgoing Prime Minister would easily defeat both candidates if he were named in the polls. ballot.
The survey comes after a separate poll on Tuesday showed Sunak is closing the gap to catch up with its rival.
However, the latest YouGov survey of more than 1,000 Tory registered members shows that Sunak may be running out of time to win support as 45% of respondents said they would vote as soon as they received it. get his vote, with 27 more. percent said they would vote “as soon as” it arrives.
Ballots will be sent out later this week after a small delay due to hacking concerns, and the deadline for members to receive these ballots is set for next Thursday.
Meanwhile, Sunak hopes to win more votes with a series of interviews conducted with Tory members across the UK.