A new YouGov snap poll suggests voters are almost evenly divided on whether Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer came out better from the ITV general election leaders’ debate, with Sunak narrowly ahead.
The poll found 46% of the public surveyed said the Prime Minister had the better night, and 45% said the Labour leader, while 9% said they did not know.
LabourList has also carried out a simple snap poll of our readers, asking who came out better from the debate. You can respond here too, and scroll below to see some examples of readers’ comments.
Most of our readers said Starmer had the better night, but around a third said Sunak.
READ MORE: Live analysis and updates on the ITV debate as it happened
Around 700 people had voted in the poll by around 10.30pm on Tuesday night. Some 48% said Starmer comes out in a better position, but 32% said Sunak did.
As the leading dedicated Labour news site followed by thousands of ordinary members, LabourList hopes the poll may give some clues about member sentiment.
We are not suggesting it is a scientific poll providing an exact representation of the views of all party members however, as our readership also includes those interested in Labour but not in the party, and anyone was able to fill in the public poll.
What readers who said Starmer won said
- Sunak failed to land punches in a must-win fight he lost. Starmer was great handling the vase across a slippery floor by striking back.
- Rishi is terrible. Keir Starmer is humane.
- Sunak was petulant and Starmer magisterial.
- Starmer put his case in a statesmanlike manner; Sunak constantly interrupted and (ironically) made up his own Project Fear.
- Keir’s tie was an awful wishy-washy insipid colour which didn’t resonate well with someone trying to ooze strength.
- Keir Starmer came across as honest and trustworthy. Rishi Sunak looked rattled.
- Starmer should have talked more about what Labour will do.
- Starmer won on ECHR, and NHS use. But the format is awful. Sound bites won’t save the country.
- Starmer was best when talking about specific policies, eg with GB Energy, recruiting teachers, clearing the NHS backlog. However he didn’t answer some of the questions.
Read more of our 2024 general election coverage here.
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