More than half the public feels worse off than they did in 2019 amid widespread pessimism about Britain’s economic future, a poll has found.
Some 53 per cent of people told pollster Ipsos they felt worse off now than they did when the Conservatives were re-elected in 2019, including 45 per cent of those who backed the party in that election.
The poll will make for worrying reading for the Prime Minister as the UK heads into an election year, with 51 per cent saying they thought they would be even worse off if Rishi Sunak was re-elected.
‘Reagan question’
Keiran Pedley, Ipsos’ director of politics, said: “For all the talk about immigration and Rwanda, it is worth remembering that the so-called ‘Reagan question’ still haunts the Conservative Party as a General Election approaches.”
The “Reagan question” refers to a 1980 campaign speech by then-US presidential candidate Ronald Reagan, who asked voters: “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”
The question is regarded as a decisive moment of the 1980 US presidential election, seeing Mr Reagan triumph over incumbent president Jimmy Carter, and Labour has sought to emulate that strategy ahead of the election expected to take place some time in 2024.
At a speech in London in January, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves asked voters if they were “better off than you were 13 years ago” when the Conservatives first took power in 2010, and it is a line she has repeated throughout the year.
The Ipsos poll suggests most people do not feel better off, and many were not reassured by November’s autumn statement.
Britain’s economy
Some 46 per cent said they were more concerned about the state of public services following Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s announcements, while 42 per cent were more concerned about the state of Britain’s economy and 40 per cent were concerned about the state of their personal finances, despite the cut to national insurance.
However, the poll did not provide universal good news for Labour either. Only 30 per cent of people said they thought they would be better off if Sir Keir Starmer’s party won the next election, with 34 per cent saying they thought they would be worse off.
Labour’s numbers have remained fairly steady throughout the year, while the number of people who think they would be better off if Mr Sunak won the next election has fallen to just 15 per cent.
The Ipsos poll surveyed 1,016 British adults between November 24 and 27.
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