Prime Minister Starmer’s Popularity Under Scrutiny as Polls Show Historic Lows

Recent claims about Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s popularity have sparked debate about his standing compared to his predecessors, with some suggesting he ranks among the least popular leaders in British political history.

As Westminster continues to navigate political turbulence, polling data paints a complex picture of the Prime Minister’s standing with the public, according to analysis by Full Fact, the UK’s largest fact-checking organization.

Some measurements do indicate historically low approval for Starmer. Market research firm Ipsos reported in September that Starmer’s “personal satisfaction ratings” were “the worst for any Prime Minister polled by Ipsos since we first started asking the question in 1977.” At that time, just 13% of voters expressed satisfaction with his performance.

More recent Ipsos data from January showed a slight improvement to 15% satisfaction, though with a 77% dissatisfaction rating yielding a net satisfaction score of -62. This places Starmer at the bottom of prime ministerial rankings since records began over four decades ago across multiple metrics, including satisfaction, dissatisfaction and net satisfaction.

However, alternative polling methods suggest nuance in these comparisons. Polling expert Sir John Curtice notes that measuring prime ministerial popularity “depends a bit on what you want to measure — perceived performance or likeability,” adding that these are “not necessarily the same thing.”

YouGov’s methodology, which measures favorable versus unfavorable opinions, showed Starmer with a January net favorability rating of -57, with 18% favorable opinions against 75% unfavorable. This represents a poor showing but still above Liz Truss’s October 2022 nadir of -70. More recent YouGov data released last week indicates a slight recovery for Starmer, with his net favorability improving to -47.

Opinium, which tracks prime ministerial approval ratings, recently placed Starmer at -44, after asking respondents about his job performance. This compares to Truss’s -47 rating in October 2022. Last month, Opinium recorded Starmer’s “joint lowest score ever” of -46, matching Theresa May’s May 2019 rating during her troubled premiership.

Most polls referenced were conducted before February 9, when Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called for Starmer’s resignation, potentially signaling further complications for the Prime Minister’s standing.

Debunking Claims About Muslim Mayors and Jeffrey Epstein

In other fact-checking news, Full Fact has investigated viral claims that 75% of England’s mayors are Muslim, finding no evidence to support this assertion.

The organization identified only three of England’s 27 directly elected mayors as Muslim: London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, and local authority mayors Rokhsana Fiaz (London Borough of Newham) and Lutfur Rahman (London Borough of Tower Hamlets).

While London represents England’s most religiously diverse region with 15% of residents identifying as Muslim according to the 2021 census, research into the capital’s current civic mayors revealed just one who appears to be Muslim, along with the Speaker of Tower Hamlets who fulfills an equivalent ceremonial role.

Many social media posts promoting the 75% claim feature an image of 18 individuals purported to be current Muslim mayors. Full Fact’s investigation found that while these individuals appear to identify as Muslim and have served as mayors at some point, only five currently hold mayoral positions.

Additionally, Full Fact has debunked an AI-generated image circulating widely that falsely claims to show Jeffrey Epstein alive in Tel Aviv, Israel. Epstein died in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

The fabricated image, which depicts a bearded man in sunglasses crossing a street, contains a SynthID digital watermark embedded by Google AI, undetectable to the human eye but identified through reverse image search. Further evidence of manipulation includes gibberish Hebrew street signs and, in some uncropped versions, a visible Google Gemini watermark.