The Brexit divide: How leave voters are less critical of the of the government over PPE supplies to NHS staff
How the referendum divide shows in pandemic polling
With the supply of PPE equipment so dominating the news several pollsters have been asking questions like the latest from YouGov above on how Johnson’s government is performing over the issue. The answer overall is not very well with two thirds of voters saying the government is doing a bad job.
What is interesting is how the huge divide in opinion over Brexit shows markedly over an issue like this. As can be seen in the YouGov table above 65% told YouGov the goverment was doing a fairly bad or very bad job over the issue. Amongst those who voted Remain in June 2016 the total was 80%. With leavers the total who were critical was 54%.
This is not the sort of thing where you would expect to see a Brexit divide but it is there. Part of it might be down to the huge popularity of Boris amongst leave voters – he was of course the man who led the successful Leave campagn. The PM’s super-loyal fanbase is ready to put up with a lot.
You even see some leavers declaring on social media that the concerns over coronavirus are being inflated in order to extend the transition period – something that the Johnson team have said will not happen. It is noticable that the loudest “put the economy first” rhetoric has come from highly vocal leavers like Toby Young.
Surely dealing with the virus which is killing thousands and thousands of people in the UK has to be the overwheling political priority.