Apparently, people 'like him' and his sheer popularity I think is most of the driving force behind his success.
Anyone who's paying attention (small minority in reality) seems to regard him as a complete idiot, however.
The Financial Times, his former editor at the Telegraph, obviously the Guardian - any serious writing about him is seriously derisive.
These are harsh words [1]
The thing I don't understand is what the Conservatives are thinking at this time? Are they simply looking at the polls showing him as clearly the most electable in an election? Because I can't believe that conservative MP's don't realize he's a fool as well. Maybe they think they'll be able to combine him with a solid Brexit negotiator, but I don't see that working. I just can't fathom Boris Johnson sitting down with Merkel, and whoever the new EU President is going to be, and doing anything material.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/24/boris-...
Conservative members put Brexit above the union (with Scotland and Northern Ireland), above the survival of their party, and above the economy. The only thing they put above Brexit is keeping out Corbyn.
Edit, here it is: https://monevator.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/YouGov-Tory...
I would note that all three of these are extremely anti-Brexit. Lots of people believe (rightly or wrongly) that Leave wouldn't have won without the support of Johnson and blame him personally for Brexit, which they see as an abomination. They aren't going to be even handed in their judgement of him: really, I'd say anything they write about him is going to be a smear.
[1] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/0/heres-where-britains-...