Almost half the public thinks the Conservatives have had a bad campaign as the party launches its manifesto, a new poll has found.
The survey from Ipsos UK found 48% of people thought the Conservative campaign was going badly, up from 41% after the first week of the election period.
Only 17% said they thought the Conservative campaign was going well, giving the party similar numbers to those achieved by Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party in 2019, when 48% said Labour was doing badly and 23% said the party was doing well.
Keiran Pedley, UK director of politics at Ipsos, said there was “little good news” in the figures for Rishi Sunak, with almost three in five people saying they felt unfavourable towards him and only 20% of people thinking he would make a better prime minister than Sir Keir Starmer.
They added: “Rishi Sunak has had a difficult week facing questions around his participation in D-Day events in France.
“This has fed into public perceptions of the Conservatives’ efforts, with half now saying the Conservatives have been having a bad campaign.
“Meanwhile, Nigel Farage’s late entrance into the election has coincided with a rise in the number of 2019 Conservatives saying they are prioritising immigration.”
Healthcare and the NHS remains the top issue in the Ipsos poll, with 63% saying it would be very important in deciding how they would vote, followed by the cost of living, which was mentioned by 53%.
But 44% said immigration would be an important issue, with that figure rising to 71% among people who voted Conservative in 2019. For 2019 Labour voters, however, immigration did not even appear in the top 10 issues.
For the Labour Party, 36% of people said the party was having a good campaign, while Sir Keir Starmer had a personal favourability rating of minus 9, compared to minus 34 for Mr Sunak.
After Mr Farage entered the election last week, a quarter of people said his party was having a good campaign, but his personal favourability rating of minus 25 was still well behind the Labour leader.
The Ipsos poll surveyed 1,050 British adults between June 7 and 10.