Opinion polls predict “electoral extinction” for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative party

London:

Three British opinion polls released on Saturday night painted a bleak picture for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party, and one pollster warned the party would face “electoral extinction” in the July 4 election.

The polls take place shortly after the halfway point of the election campaign, after a week in which both the Conservatives and Labor presented their manifestos, and shortly before voters start to receive postal ballots.

Sunak surprised many in his own party by announcing early elections on May 22, against widespread expectations that he would wait until the end of the year to give more time for living standards to recover after the highest inflation in 40 years.

Market research firm Savanta found 46% support for Keir Starmer’s Labor Party, up 2 points from the previous poll five days earlier, while support for the Conservatives fell 4 points to 21%. The survey was carried out from 12 to 14 June for the Sunday Telegraph.

Labour’s 25-point lead was the biggest since the government of Sunak’s predecessor Liz Truss, whose tax cut plans prompted investors to dump British government bonds, pushing up interest rates and forcing Bank intervention. from England.

“Our research suggests that this election could be nothing short of electoral extinction for the Conservative Party,” said Chris Hopkins, director of political research at Savanta.

A separate Survation poll, published by the Sunday Times, predicted the Conservatives could end up with just 72 seats in the 650-member House of Commons – the lowest in its almost 200-year history – while Labor would win 456 seats.

The survey was carried out from May 31st to June 13th.

In percentage terms, the Survation poll had Labor on 40% and the Conservatives on 24%, while former Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party – a right-wing opponent of the Tories – was on 12%.

A third poll, carried out by Opinium for the Sunday Observer and carried out from 12 to 14 June, also showed Labor on 40%, the Conservatives on 23% and the Reformists on 14%, with the two biggest parties giving ground to smaller rivals.

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