Starmer less popular than Elon Musk, poll finds

Prime Minister’s net approval rating now stands at minus 22 points, according to the survey by JL Partners

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Sir Keir Starmer is less popular than Elon Musk with the British public, a poll has found.
The Prime Minister’s net approval rating now stands at minus 22 points, a significant fall from his score of four points at the start of the general election campaign in May.
The poll by JL Partners found that Mr Musk – the billionaire owner of X, who will have a major role in president-elect Donald Trump’s administration – had a net score of minus 17.
Mr Musk is a vocal critic of Sir Keir, attacking his response to the Southport riots in summer and accusing him this week of going “full Stalin” amid his inheritance tax raid on farmers.
The Prime Minister said during the August unrest that there was no justification for another claim by the entrepreneur that Britain was heading for civil war.
The animosity between the two men could prove more significant after Jan 20, the day of Mr Trump’s inauguration, after Mr Musk was appointed to lead the new department of government efficiency.
The poll, which surveyed 2,024 adults on Nov 13 and Nov 14, found Sir Keir is also less popular than all of his fellow leaders of major political parties.
Kemi Badenoch scored minus one as she recorded her first net approval rating since succeeding Rishi Sunak as Conservative leader.
It is the same score as Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, while Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, polled at minus 10. Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, scored minus 16.
James Johnson, a founding director at JL Partners, said: “Kemi Badenoch is the only politician to have a net positive rating with over-65s.
“She is as positively rated as Starmer was going into the election. ⁠Badenoch also has a positive rating amongst 18-24 year olds, higher than Starmer (plus three versus minus three).
“⁠Badenoch has a net neutral rating with Reform voters, while Starmer has a rating of minus 74 with Reform voters. She also has a net rating of minus two with Liberal Democrat voters, compared to minus 12 for Starmer.”
Lord Mandelson, a Labour peer and former cabinet minister, on Tuesday urged Sir Keir to “swallow his pride” and use Mr Farage as a “bridgehead” to both Mr Trump and Mr Musk.
He told the How to Win an Election podcast: “He is a sort of technological, industrial, commercial phenomenon. And it would be unwise, in my view, for Britain to ignore him.
“You cannot pursue these feuds. You can’t afford to do it. We should try and kick it into touch as soon as possible. If I were the government here, I’d be asking the embassy in Washington DC to find out who his other British friends are. Who are they all? And they’ve got to be used, I think, as a bridge to Musk. And so that’s what I would do.”
Asked whether this included Nigel Farage, he said: “Yes, I would include Nigel Farage. I mean, you can’t ignore him. He’s an elected Member of Parliament. He’s a public figure. He’s a bridgehead, both to President Trump and to Elon Musk and others… You’ve got to work in the national interest and that national interest is served in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways.”
The poll also found voters are now more likely to back Reform than the Conservatives until the age of 45.
People are more likely to back the Tories than Labour by the time they turn 54, and more likely to vote Reform than Labour by the age of 60.
It comes amid the popularity of Mr Farage on platforms such as TikTok, as well as a surge in youth support for similar Right-of-centre parties across the continent.
Mr Farage told The Telegraph: “Reform is connecting with young voters in a way that the Tories cannot.”
Meanwhile, Labour has fallen behind Reform and the Liberal Democrats among older voters since the general election, having previously only trailed the Tories.
Sir Keir and Ms Reeves have stripped around 10 million pensioners of winter fuel payments and limited the benefit to those receiving pension credit.
Labour is now polling at just 12 per cent among voters aged 65 and above, down from 26 per cent on the eve of July’s election.
The Conservatives have extended their lead among this group of voters and are polling at 44 per cent, up by 11 per cent since the election.
Reform and the Liberal Democrats have also benefited from a collapse in support for Labour. They are both up by four per cent since July, on 21 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.
In further bad news for Sir Keir and Ms Reeves, a majority of voters (53 per cent) said the Budget was fairly or very unsuccessful, with 30 per cent deeming it fairly or very successful.
Just over half (51 per cent) of those who voted Labour in July backed the Budget, while 36 per cent said it was unsuccessful and a further 14 per cent did not know.
Ms Reeves’s first fiscal event, which included £40 billion worth of tax rises, was least popular among those 65 and over, who gave it a net approval rating of minus 58 per cent.
Thousands of farmers descended on Westminster on Tuesday to show their opposition to a key Budget measure which will mean farms worth more than £1 million are eligible for 20 per cent inheritance tax.
Jeremy Clarkson, the television presenter and a farmer in the Cotswolds who stars in the reality show Clarkson’s Farm, was more popular than any politician polled, scoring a net approval rating of 17.
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