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As Conservative candidates battle it out to become the next party leader, reminders of who the British public really wants to see installed into the position have been making the rounds on social media.
Polling by Ipsos published in August examined attitudes towards the current race to replace Rishi Sunak, and found that, on the whole, most people couldn’t care less.
Nearly two-thirds of voters admit not to having any preference over who takes the job, including almost a third (32 per cent) of those who voted for the party in the general election.
The most popular candidate among the British public as a whole was James Cleverly, who leads the pack with 18 per cent of people believing he would do a good job.
Tom Tugendhat follows closely behind him at 17 per cent, with the favourite Robert Jenrick barely getting a mention.
The research also found that none of the candidates for Conservative leader are well known by a majority of the British public at this point.
When asked what difference endorsements from different political figures might make to the candidates’ chances, two thirds of Britons (65 per cent) say that backing from Liz Truss would give the candidate a worse chance of winning.
This compares with 46 per cent who say that an endorsement from Nigel Farage would have a negative impact on a candidate’s chances, and 44 per cent for Boris Johnson.
David Cameron is the only one of the political figures asked about whose endorsement the public, on balance, felt might have a positive impact (albeit only just – 32 per cent said it might make their chances better and 31 per cent worse).
