Party leaders and their advisers are closely studying the polls as Election Day approaches, but perhaps they should be asking a different question.
The trustworthiness of politicians has been put to the test Richard Nixon-style with a poll question: Would you buy a used car from this Prime Minister?
The poll dates back to the Democratic Party’s 1960 presidential election poster campaign, which used the famous slogan “Would you buy a used car from this man?” alongside a photo of Nixon. In the close election, Nixon lost to John F. Kennedy.
Picking up on that, Carmoola polled the public ahead of election day to find out which prime ministerial candidate and party were considered the most honest people to get a used car in good condition.
Labour leader Keir Starmer and Reform Party leader Nigel Farage have emerged as more reliable options for buying a used car than Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Labour’s Keir Starmer came out on top, with 27 per cent saying they would trust him to sell them a car. Perhaps it’s because of all the recent stories he’s been telling about his favourite cars?
Perhaps surprisingly, Nigel Farage, whose Reform Party promises to stop “the war on motorists”, came second with 22 per cent of respondents saying they would trust him with a second-hand motor.
Meanwhile, numbers man Rishi Sunak came third with just 19 per cent saying they would trust him to sell them a used car.
Rishi Sunak came in third place, with just 19 per cent of respondents saying they trust him when buying a used car. But, in an even bigger blow to the Conservatives, a whopping 68 per cent of voters would not trust Rishi to sell them a used car – the highest level of distrust placed in any politician.
However, reversing the question to whether you wouldn’t trust a leader to sell you a motor was a blow to conservatives, as was the suggestion that all leaders would do well to get someone else to sell them their cars.
A whopping 68 percent of voters would not trust Rishi if he sold them a used car – the highest level of distrust placed in any politician.
Even though Starmer won the poll, 57 per cent still wouldn’t buy a used car from him, while 64 per cent wouldn’t buy one from Farage.
Some 2,051 people aged 16 or over were asked which potential prime minister they would trust to sell them a second-hand car.
Respondents were able to answer yes, no, I don’t know, or I am not familiar with this person.
Incredibly, one in ten people (11 per cent) did not know who Ed Davey was, compared with 19 per cent for Denyer and 20 per cent for Ramsay.
Green co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay took fifth and sixth place respectively.
John Swinney (SNP) and Rhun ap Iorwerth (Plaid Cymru leader) won 11 per cent and 9 per cent of the votes from voters who said they could be trusted, putting them in seventh and eighth place.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey came in fourth place in the Nixon-style poll (17 per cent would trust him). In terms of the trustworthiness of political parties, the Liberal Democrats came in third.
Political party preferences were also polled, with Labour also coming out on top: 39 per cent would trust Labour to sell them a used car.
Interestingly, despite the Green Party having the most anti-car manifesto of all parties (the Green manifesto wants to ban all petrol and diesel cars by 2035), it is the second most trusted party when it comes to selling a used car.
The Greens told their voters that 27 percent of the votes were in favor.
The Liberal Democrats came third with 22 percent, the Reformists fourth with 21 percent and the Conservatives only 19 percent of the votes.
The SNP had the highest percentage of votes against, with 69 per cent not trusting the Scottish National Party to sell them a used car, while the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru both had 69 per cent distrust ratings.
It drives me crazy: automotive promises in party manifestos
Historically, Sunak has polled worse than four of his seven most recent prime ministerial predecessors.
Gordon Brown, Theresa May, David Cameron and Boris Johnson tied for first place with 21 per cent of people saying they would trust these leaders to sell them a used car.
But Gordon Brown had the lowest percentage of recent prime ministers polled who would not buy it: 61 per cent had no confidence in him.
John Major and Rishi Sunak came in fifth on 19 per cent, while Tony Blair was just behind on 18 per cent.
Unsurprisingly, Liz Truss, the shortest-serving prime minister in UK history, tops the list of politicians people would not buy a used car from: almost three-quarters (74 per cent) of people expressed distrust.
In a broader political context, this survey demonstrates the general distrust in politicians.
All parties have recently published their manifestos, and motoring is one of the main campaign areas, where each party is trying to get drivers on board.
This is Money has recently published an election guide for motorists, where we dissect the various manifestos to find out where the parties stand when it comes to drivers.
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