Rishi Sunak has received a double helping of dire polling news today, as YouGov reveals the Tories are now miles behind Labour for all but the oldest group of voters.
New polling released this morning by WPI discovered that the so-called cross-over age – the age at which voters are more likely to back the Conservatives over Labour – is now 66 years old.
This is a significant hike on 2019’s election, when the tipping age was just 39 years old.
The findings, based on a poll of over 4,000 UK adults, suggest voters are no longer more likely to vote Conservative the older they get.
The same poll finds just nine percent of 18-24-year-olds plan on voting Conservative, increasing to 12 percent of 25-49-year-olds and 22 percent of 50-64-year-olds.
Similar research suggests 2017’s tipping age was 47.
On the same day, YouGov also finds Labour has opened up a whopping 26 percent lead over the Tories.
Labour has risen 2 points to 46, while the Conservatives have fallen four points to 20 percent.
Reform UK, meanwhile, has closed their gap with the Conservatives by six points, increasing their support to 13 percent.
The poll, if born out with uniform swings across the country, would result in a Labour majority of 404 and the Conservatives holding on to just 34 seats.
To make matters worse for the Conservatives, further polling from Savanta this morning suggested that Rishi Sunak remains the best option for them as leader.
Mr Sunak beat all seven potential leadership rivals in head-to-heads among Conservative Party voters.
The rivals given to Tory voters included Boris Johnson, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage.
Savanta’s political research director Chris Hopkins said the polling suggests the Conservatives don’t have a “ready-made replacement waiting in the wings, or an easy path to avoid an electoral drubbing by the Labour Party”.
Penny Mordaunt came out best, picked as the most likely to be chosen by the public.
Labour members in particular picked her over Mr Sunak or other Tory figures.
Others polled included James Cleverly, Suella Braverman and Tom Tugendhat.
Ms Mordaunt was the only potential candidate who beat off all her potential rivals.
