A recent YouGov survey on Brexit confirmed what much of the media have been pointing toward: Boris Johnson of the UK’s Conservative Party may well end up the country’s next leader, and at popular behest. The poll showed that 77% of nearly 900 Tory party members said he‘d be a good option to replace Theresa May. No other candidate came even close. Just 19% said he’d be a bad leader.
Somewhat less if the same respondents also said that they’d favor leaving the EU even if that triggered the exit of Scotland or Northern Ireland from the UK -- or if it brought a major hit to the UK economy. The poll’s results go yet further: Tory party members are for leaving the EU even if Brexit brings about the Conservative Party’s complete collapse. 54% claimed that it would be worth it, while 36% disagreed.
In the wider country, the results of the poll weren’t a whole lot different. 61% of those who intend to vote Conservative favor Johnson and 31% of the general public said that Johnson would be a good prime minister -- the highest figures for any candidate.
“It is certainly a measure of how the Conservative and Unionist Party has forgotten about its history that its activists are apparently so relaxed about the break-up of the UK, and the collapse of their own party,” noted one commentator.
Intestingly, of the five options put to Tory members, it is only when asked whether Brexit should be avoided if it meant Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn ocuppying the prime ministership that Conservative voters waivered. 51% of the Tories asked said they would rather remain in the EU rather than risk having Corbyn become premier.