Voters believe ministers should stick to their promise to increase benefits in line with rising prices, a poll has revealed.
Liz Truss is threatening to snatch hundreds of pounds from working families by ditching the commitment made by Boris Johnson earlier this year.
But a survey found 43% think benefits such as Universal Credit should go up at the same rate as inflation.
A third (33%) want the rise to be linked to average earnings, while 15% said they should not increase at all.
The survey, conducted for the Mirror by Redfield and Wilton, also found people want advice from the government on how to save on their electricity and gas bills.
More than half (54%) said they would significantly or fairly benefit from regular tips on how to cut down on their energy consumption.
Among younger generations the figure was higher, with 72% of 18 to 24-year-olds saying they’d appreciate advice and 67% of those in the 25 to 34 age bracket saying the same.
Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng was due to announce on October 31 a decision on what benefits will be from next April - before he was sacked today.
His successor Jeremy Hunt has been tasked with taking over the medium term fiscal plan, in what threatens to be a Halloween showdown with Tory MPs.
Some 3 million families will be more than £500 worse off if the increase in payments is linked to average earnings rather than inflation, according to figures from the Resolution Foundation.
Low-income households with children would be hardest hit – a working single parent with one child would be £478 worse off, while a working couple with three children would lose £978.
Cabinet ministers including Penny Mordaunt, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Robert Buckland and Chloe Smith have been arguing for the government to stick to its promise to increase the payments in line with inflation.
Redfield and Wilton interviewed 1,500 adults in Britain online on October 13.
