Half of Scots believe Humza Yousaf is doing a bad job, a new poll has suggested. Some 50 per cent of respondents said that the First Minister had been doing poorly since taking up office. Yousaf marked 100 days in the job on Friday.
Only 23 per cent said they thought he has been doing well. Yousaf's tenure as leader has been hampered by the investigation into the SNP's finances and policy u-turns on the deposit return scheme and highly protected marine areas (HPMAs).
The YouGov survey of 1,100 Scots took place between June 26 and 29. A previous poll conducted in April found 19 per cent of people thought Yousaf was doing well, and 44 per cent believed the opposite. He had only been in the job for a few weeks when the poll was carried out.
Yousaf boasted a slightly better rating than Tory Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Some 22 per cent of Scots said Sunak was doing a good job leading the UK Government, compared to 59 per cent who said he was doing a bad job. Only 28 per cent had a favourable view of the First Minister, while 51 per cent had an unfavourable view.
Those polled were also given six topics and asked to evaluate Yousaf’s performance. These included on the cost of living, where just 15 per cent believed he had done well, compared to 60 per cent believing the opposite.
On the ongoing investigation into the SNP’s finances, 22 per cent of respondents believed Yousaf was doing a good job, compared to 48 per cent who believed otherwise. Some 17 per cent approved of how he is managing the economy, while 55 per cent did not.
Although he was Health Secretary before becoming FM, just 18 per cent believed he had done a good job on healthcare, compared to 56 per cent who did not.
Despite being in coalition with the Greens, only 20 per cent believed his administration were handling climate change well, compared to 44 per cent who believed otherwise. Just 18 per cent believed he had handled the issue of Scottish independence well, while 50 per cent did not.
The poll also suggested that support for independence had fallen back since the previous poll in April, with 37 per cent saying they would back separation. This was down from 39 per cent.
Those who would vote no in a future referendum also increased to 46 per cent. Six per cent of respondents said they would not vote, nine per cent responded that they did not know how they would vote and two per cent refused to answer the question.
A spokesman for the First Minister said recent polling has shown the SNP remains the “most popular party in Scotland, which reflects the record of delivery of the new Scottish Government”.
He added: “In his first hundred days, Humza Yousaf defined the core missions of his administration – equality, opportunity, community – and introduced substantial measures to help achieve these aims."
But Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said the First Minister had “somehow managed to fall short of the low expectations we had of him”.
“He has been missing in action while Scots struggled with the worst cost of living crisis in decades and the NHS crisis he let spiral as health secretary,” she said.
“He failed as transport minister, justice secretary, health secretary – and now he is failing as First Minister too, leaving his party and our country in chaos.”
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