The trend in YouGov's "Best PM" ratings pic.twitter.com/tTBoZXCZwE

— Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) August 19, 2020

Tory lead falls to 2pts following the A-level results debacle

Latest Westminster voting intention (18-19 Aug)

Con – 40% (-4 from last week)
Lab – 38% (+3)
Lib Dem – 6%
Green – 6%
Brexit Party – 4%
SNP – 5%https://t.co/brDgyjwB0B pic.twitter.com/nkxaXNisU1

— YouGov (@YouGov) August 19, 2020

Counting the cost of the A-level debacle

The latest YouGov Times poll just published has the Tories in their worst position in any survey since GE2019 with Starmer now beating Johnson as “Best PM” by 35% to 31%.

All this comes of course after the dreadful week that the Government has been having over the exam grades when the EdSec had to abandon his initial plan and leave everything to be based on teacher projections.

The best PM figures in this poll are really quite remarkable because this is generally a polling question that gives the incumbent a big advantage. In its last poll YouGov had Starmer take a 1% lead on this message and this has now been extended to 4%.

This is also a massive boost for Starmer and it cannot be long, surely, before the red team moves into the lead.

Mike Smithson