It’s all very well judging political parties on their polling figures. But what exactly do voters think about their leaders? Look no further: thanks to Savanta polling for the Scotsman, Mr S has discovered just how negatively the people of Scotland view those vying to be their next First Minister. Bottom of the pile is, shock, horror, flailing First Minister Humza Yousaf. Quelle surprise!
The polling confirms what we already previously knew: hapless Humza is officially ‘Useless’. His first six months in power at Holyrood have seen him struggle to escape the shadow of his predecessor – and that ongoing police probe. A new word cloud generated about him from voter opinions reveals that his infamous nickname has stuck. Most commonly viewed as ‘Useless’, voters also see the First Minister as ‘okay’, ‘weak’, ‘boring’ and ‘incompetent’. Ouch. Nothing like the unfiltered views of straight-talking Scots to keep you grounded…
Do Labour’s Anas Sarwar and the Tories’ Douglas Ross fare any better? Well, the most commonly used word for them both was ‘okay’. The next most popular opinion on Sarwar was ‘good’ before being followed up by ‘unknown’ — not the most encouraging response to his recent campaign efforts in Rutherglen. Ross didn’t get let off quite as lightly, with ‘useless’, ‘idiot’ and ‘bland’ featuring prominently in his word cloud. No worse than the stuff he hears on the touchline when officiating football matches…
Polling on voting intentions by Redfield and Wilton shows that the gap between the SNP and Labour is continuing to close, with the Nats now on 34 per cent versus Labour’s 32 per cent. Yousaf will be hoping that today’s conference speech and his recent independence strategy debate are enough to keep Scottish voters on side. But if the most recent temperature check on voter opinion is anything to go by, he certainly has his work cut out…
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