New YouGov Poll Shows Penny Mordaunt Racing Ahead in UK PM Contest

Rishi Sunak, while emerging on top of the list of nominations in the first round, performed poorly in head-to-heads.

Penny Mordaunt.

(Photo: Twitter/@John2Win)

A new poll conducted within the Conservative Party members taken immediately after the announcement of the final candidates for the prime ministerial race in the UK shows Minister of State for Trade Policy, Penny Mordaunt, surging ahead.

The results, published on Wednesday,13 July, show that Secretary of State for Defence, Ben Wallace, was also a favourite to succeed Boris Johnson, but he has declined to enter the contest.

When the Tories were asked to choose one candidate from the field of eight, Penny Mordaunt topped the list at 27 percent of the vote. MP Kemi Badenoch came second at 15 percent, followed by former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, at 13 percent each.

Mordaunt's closest competitor head-to-head is Truss, who she defeated by 55 percent to 37 percent. She is also likely to beat Rishi Sunak by 67 percent to 28 percent.

Sunak, while emerging on top of the list of nominations in the first round, performed quite poorly in head-to-head contests.

The only candidate Sunak definitely seems to be defeating in a head-to-head is Jeremy Hunt, by 57 percent to 25 percent, according to the poll.

Click here to understand how the intra-party election is taking place in the Conservative Party.