Another day, another set of dreary headlines for the government over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. As well as publications that tend to be hostile to the Conservatives, the Telegraph today splashes with criticism of the testing shortage, saying there are ‘Questions without answers’. Yet despite all the noise, the polls tell a rather different story.
YouGov’s political tracker says that for the first time in nearly a decade, Britain approves of its government. Boris Johnson’s government has a net approval rating of +26 – the highest YouGov has recorded in the 1,400 times it has asked: do you approve or disapprove of the government’s record to date? Meanwhile, Johnson’s personal approval ratings are at their highest since he entered 10 Downing Street while Rishi Sunak is enjoying a surge in popularity in the territory of Clegg-mania in 2010.
While the polling serves as a helpful reminder that Twitter is not representative of the country, there are a few reasons government figures are not banking on their surge in popularity being a permanent fixture. For
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