London: In a recent poll, fifty percent of Scottish respondents said First Minister Humza Yousaf had performed poorly during his first 100 days in office.
Yousaf, a Glasgow native who took his oath in both English and Urdu when he was first elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2011, is the first Muslim leader of a significant UK political party and the youngest SNP leader at 37.
In a YouGov survey of 1,100 Scots between June 26 and June 29, 50% of respondents said he had done a poor job, and only 23% supported his performance since taking office as first minister in March.
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In a poll conducted in April, when Yousaf had only been in the position for a few weeks, less than 20% of respondents said they thought he was doing a good job, and 44 percent said they did not.
Yousaf has had to deal with Nicola Sturgeon and her husband being questioned by police as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged financial misconduct within the SNP. Additionally, he has come under fire for changing his mind about the contentious deposit return recycling programme and highly protected marine areas.
Only 28% of respondents had a favourable opinion of Yousaf, while 51% had a negative opinion of the first minister.
People were polled on their opinions of Yousaf's performance on six different topics, including the cost of living crisis, the general economy, the financial audit of the SNP, Scottish healthcare, climate change, and Scottish independence.
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Scots gave him the lowest rating on the cost-of-living crisis, with only 15% of them believing he did well compared to 60% who thought the opposite. His handling of the party finances issue received the best rating (22 percent in favour), with just under half (48 percent) expressing the opposing view.
Yousaf received the lowest ratings for his handling of the cost of living issue, his healthcare policies (56 percent unfavourable), and his management of the Scottish economy (55 percent of respondents thought he was doing a poor job).
The poll also revealed that support for Scottish independence had decreased by 2% since the April poll, from 39% to 37%, with 18% of respondents saying Yousaf had handled the subject well and 50% saying he had not.
Yousaf's job rating was higher than that of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who was rated as leading the UK poorly by 59 percent of Scots and poorly by only one in five (22 percent) of them.
Polling data currently shows the SNP to be the most popular party in Scotland, but figures also revealed that the gap had narrowed to other parties in recent months. A general election in the UK is likely to take place next year.
"In his first 100 days, Humza Yousaf defined the core missions of his administration - equality, opportunity, and community - and introduced substantial measures to help achieve these aims," a statement from Yousaf's office said while outlining policies that demonstrated his "record of delivery."
"Putting the needs of people at the heart of everything we do as a government," the statement continued.
But opponents from the Scottish Labour Party and Scottish Conservatives were in disagreement.
Jackie Baillie, the deputy leader of Labour, stated that "(he) has) managed to fall short of the low expectations we had of him.
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, she continued. "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.
The "only surprise" from the YouGov poll, according to Conservative Party member Craig Hoy, was that only 50% of Scots thought Yousaf was doing a "terrible job," accusing the first minister of putting too much emphasis on independence.
"The first minister has seen a number of his signature initiatives fail, his party break into open conflict, and there is still a huge cloud over their behaviour and murky finances.
"In the meantime, the health service is at breaking point, the ferries fiasco continues, public services have been cut, and a further £1 billion black hole in the budget has been announced, all while Humza pushes his obsession with independence.
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"Anyone who doesn't find that disastrous must have spent the last 100 days on the Moon," said the speaker.