Yahoo News Two thirds of Brits think the country is getting worse, poll finds
Two thirds of people living in the UK think the country is getting worse, a new poll has found.
Polling agency YouGov surveyed 2,973 British adults and found that 66% believe the country is in decline, compared with just 5% who think it is getting better.
A further 30% either said the country “is staying much the same” or that they “don’t know”.
According to the survey, people in Scotland have the gloomiest outlook about the future of the country, with more than 68% believing the country is getting worse – compared to 61% of people in London.
Of those who identified as Labour supporters, 74% believe Britain is in decline compared to 59% of Tories.
The UK has been left reeling by the coronavirus crisis with more than 41,000 deaths recorded so far.
Boris Johnson has seen his approval ratings plummet throughout the crisis, and the number of Brits who think the government has handled the COVID-19 crisis well has declined consistently.
The most recent numbers from YouGov show that just 32% now say they approve of the government’s performance, down three points from the week before.
49% now say they disapprove, up five points.
This is the fifth week in a row the numbers of people saying they approve of the government’s performance has dropped.
Chris Curtis, YouGov’s political research manager, said: “Some of this will be down to increased criticism of how the government has handled coronavirus, with Britain now bottom of YouGov’s international league table in terms of public perception of government management of the crisis.
“But part of this is just an inevitable return to normality.
“The government’s approval ratings looked unsustainably high at the start of the coronavirus crisis, given this is a metric that has sat in negative territory for almost all of the past two decades.”
Opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer is polling well with the public, with a recent poll showing him to be the most popular opposition leader since Tony Blair after two months in the role.
