Jeremy Corbyn has done little to boost Labour’s popularity and faces an uphill struggle to convince voters that he would be a better prime minister than David Cameron, according to a new Opinium/Observer poll.
The survey taken during Corbyn’s first week as Labour leader found almost twice as many voters choosing Cameron (41%) over Corbyn (22%) as the best occupant of No 10.
While 89% of Tory voters said Cameron would be the best PM, only 58% of Labour backers said they thought Corbyn would do the job best, suggesting serious doubts within Labour ranks about their newly elected leader.
When asked a separate question – if they could imagine Corbyn as prime minister – 32% of likely voters said they could. However, 57% said they could not, including nearly a quarter (23%) of Labour voters.
The poll showed that, while enthusiasm for Corbyn and interest in his election as leader may have had a small positive effect on Labour’s ratings, there has been no huge bounce.
The Tories remain well ahead on 37%, with Labour on 32%, Ukip on 14% and the Liberal Democrats, who are gathering this weekend in Bournemouth for the first time since their disastrous general election result, on 6%.
The figures are similar to the final share of the vote in May’s general election when the Tories secured 36.9%, Labour 30.4%, Ukip 12.6% and the Lib Dems 7.9%.
Some encouragement for Labour can be found, however, by comparing today’s poll with a post-general election poll conducted by Opinium at the beginning of June – well before Corbyn’s campaign to be leader had come to the notice of the public. This put the Tories on 39%, Labour on 30%, Ukip on 12% and the Lib Dems on 7% – meaning that Labour has cut the Tory lead from 9 points to 5.
While Corbyn supporters will argue he has not yet had time to prove himself, the fact he is not seen as a future prime minister will be a worry to the party after the Ed Miliband era. Miliband’s personal ratings tended to lag way behind those for his party and he struggled to ever overtake Cameron.