Humza Yousaf has lower favourability rating among Scots than Nicola Sturgeon, poll finds

The research also shows Scots are less favourable towards the SNP now than when Mr Yousaf took over as party leader and First Minister a year ago.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has the highest favourability rating of the leaders of the three largest parties at Holyrood, according to the study by Ipsos Scotland.

It found the SNP’s overall net favourability rating has fallen from minus 1 in March 2023 to minus 10 in March this year.

Meanwhile, while 34 per cent of people have a favourable opinion of Mr Yousaf’s party, 44 per cent view the SNP unfavourably.

Mr Yousaf himself is viewed favourably by 29 per cent of Scots and unfavourably by 45 per cent, giving him a net rating of minus 15.

This is an improvement on the rating of minus 20 he had when he was running to be SNP leader, it is lower than the rating of his Labour rival.

Mr Sarwar has an overall rating of minus 7, with 26 per cent of people viewing him favourably and 33 per cent having an unfavourable opinion of him.

Ms Sturgeon has a rating of minus 12, which is down significantly from the score of plus 8 she had when she left office.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has the lowest rating of the major party leaders at minus 42, the poll found, with 14 per cent of people viewing him favourably and 56 per cent viewing him unfavourably.

More than half (56 per cent) of those questioned said the Scottish Government has done a bad job when it comes to improving the state of NHS, while 49 per cent believe ministers have done badly at improving living standards for those on low incomes.

A similar proportion (48 per cent) think the Scottish Government has performed badly on education, with 47 per cent saying it has done a bad job at managing the economy.

A total of 1,040 people across Scotland were interviewed for the research, which took place between March 15 and 26.

Emily Gray, managing director at Ipsos Scotland, said: “These findings show the Scottish public are less favourable towards the SNP now than they were when Humza Yousaf took office, with Mr Yousaf facing a challenge to convince the public his Government is delivering on key policy areas such as the NHS, education and the economy.

“However the other parties also face challenges – the Conservatives and Rishi Sunak are much more unpopular, whilst views towards Labour are less negative but the results suggest they haven’t as yet generated much enthusiasm among the public.”