40% approved compared to 39% who disapproved in the week beginning May 10, 2021, according to YouGov’s weekly tracker of government approval, with ‘Don’t know’ the response for the remaining 21%.
Of the other 51 weeks, the closest points were the following week, which saw the same 1% difference but in reverse, and the week of April 12, 2021, when ‘Disapprove’ was at 40%, two points ahead of ‘Approve’.
This was during a narrowing of the numbers through Spring 2021, after the disapproval number had been as far as 30 percentage points ahead in the week of November 2, 2020, on 56%.
The 40% approval high in May came a week before the third step of the government’s roadmap out of lockdown, but despite lingering questions about the funding of Boris Johnson’s flat refurbishment.
The numbers are now trending in opposite directions again, with disapproval up to 45% and approval nine points further back on 36% at the start of this week, perhaps affected by Dominic Cummings’ negative select committee evidence on May 27.
YouGov statistics can be found at yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/trackers/government-approval
