Britons and our next Prime Minister

Conservative Party

Britons and our next Prime Minister

Throughout the Conservative leadership election, More in Common has been conducting polling and focus group research about what Britons think of the race, what they want the new Prime Minister to focus on when they come into office, and what they think Boris Johnson’s legacy will be when he leaves No. 10

Our focus groups tell the story of the leadership race from the perspective of ordinary Britons. Here you can see how attitudes to the two finalists changed and how that influenced party members as they backed Liz Truss

Below are some of the highlights from our polling and focus group research and our thought leadership and media engagement during the race.

Our focus groups on TV

We worked with our partners at BBC Newsnight and TalkTV to hold focus groups with swing voters in the Red Wall seats of Rother Valley and Bury North

Our focus groups in the papers

Read the coverage of some of our focus groups on the Conservative leadership candidates in the press

The Times

Tryl said Sunak ended up “in the position of having to change impressions, whereas Liz was in the position of having to build on a positive first impression. He couldn’t dispel the wealth stuff.”

The Sun

Luke Tryl, UK director of the research group More in Common, which conducted the focus group, said: “Speaking to these Oldham voters it’s clear whoever wins has a lot to do to rebuild their trust”.

The Sunday Times

Luke Tryl, UK Director of More in Common, who ran the focus group, said: “For the Tory members we spoke to, what this races comes down to is Sunak’s slickness versus Truss’s down-to-earth appeal”

The Evening Standard

Luke Tryl More in Common’s UK Director said “That the people we spoke to in Uxbridge urgently want to hear what the candidates are going to do about the cost of living, how they’re going to continue to support Ukraine and their plan to tackle climate change and they want to hear rather less about the debate on trans issues.”