THERESA May was a more adept leader than Boris Johnson, a poll has found.
Over one in three of the British public (36%) think the current Prime Minister is “a capable leader” compared with 46% who thought the same of his predecessor, according to an Ipsos MORI poll.
Mrs May's rating came in April 2018, when she lost her Commons majority in a catastrophic general election and was facing growing discontent.
When compared against Mrs May's first party conference in September 2016, the approval rating is even wider, with the last PM scoring 68%.
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On a range of leadership traits, Mr Johnson comes in behind Mrs May’s scores. Some 31 per cent think Mr Johnson has sound judgment, compared with 56% for Mrs May in 2016, and still below her 2018 score of 41.
The poll which comes as the Conservative Party holds its annual conference, found that 81% of the British public are “dissatisfied” with how the government is running the country, with just 14% “satisfied”.
Ministers' net satisfaction score stands at minus 67, with only the governments of John Major and Theresa May achieving lower ratings since the company started its Political Monitor series in 1977.
Meanwhile a majority (55%) are dissatisfied with the job Mr Johnson is doing as Prime Minister, down 17% since he took over, while 37% are satisfied.
Mr Johnson outscores rival Jeremy Corbyn when people are asked which of the two would make the “most capable Prime Minister”. He is preferred by 50% while just 29% supported the Labour leader.
Keiran Pedley, research director at Ipsos MORI, said: “Much is understandably made of Jeremy Corbyn’s historically poor personal poll ratings but the truth is that Johnson’s government is historically unpopular too.
"The dim view that the public appear to take of both the government and opposition makes the coming General Election very unpredictable.
"However, Conservatives will take some heart in the fact that the public appear to prefer Johnson as Prime Minister to Corbyn."
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