Corbyn made a Scottish Labour recovery a key goal. How's that going?
Amid a flurry of polls all pointing to disaster for Labour without a change of course, the picture in Scotland is a complete disaster.
In August of last year during the last leadership contest, Jeremy Corbyn identified a recovery in Scotland as one of his key goals. For all the efforts put in by Kezia Dugdale north of the border, the evidence is that despite the rhetoric, Corbyn has become a handicap to Labour’s chances of a Scottish revival.
YouGov polling has given Corbyn a net approval rating across Scotland of -36, and -47 among 2015 Labour voters. Among 2015 Labour voters, just 19 per cent think he is doing well – a fall of 14 points since early May.
His national numbers are, YouGov notes ‘boosted by the fact that more SNP voters (31 per cent) think he is doing well than Labour voters.’ Behind Corbyn, Kezia Dugdale has a net approval rating of -15.
Contrast that with Scottish Conservative leader, Ruth Davidson, who has a net approval rating of +31 and Nicola Sturgeon with a net approval rating of +34.
Theresa May meanwhile enjoys a considerable leads when voters in Scotland were asked about key characteristics. 66 per cent see her as strong; 62 per cent say she is competent and 53 per cent say that she is in control.
The new Prime Minister has commanding leads in key characteristics – she is seen as strong by 66 per cent.
The only area in which May performs poorly is on likeability, with more people thinking she is dislikeable (35 per cent vs 30 per cent).
With figures like these, it’s no wonder that Owen Smith has raised concerns about Jeremy Corbyn’s failure to engage in the arguments about national identify in Scotland, Wales and England which are so vital to the future of the United Kingdom as it currently stands.
Ed Jacobs is a contributing editor at Left Foot Forward
See: Nearly a third of Labour voters prefer Theresa May to Jeremy Corbyn
14 Responses to “Jeremy Corbyn’s approval ratings hit the floor in Scotland”
CR
This says more about the disruption to the Party casused by the rebel Blairite MPs than Corbyn
Frann Leach
Poor Jeremy suffers from the fact that he’s been bullied and hounded from day 1 of his leadership by MPs, MSPs and other who should know better. This doesn’t make his party more electable, though the Bliarites claim otherwise, of course.
In addition, in Scotland, there are very few real Labour MSPs, most are Bliarite, a philosophy that goes down in Scotland like a lead balloon. There’s also the small matter of a Labour Branch Office manager in Kezia Dugdale who is incapable of making up her mind about her local party’s policies, and when she attempts to exercise leadership sounds more like a two-year-old about to scweam and scweam and scweam if her MSPs don’t listen to her. The only reason she got the job is because it’s a poison chalice nobody wants, and she’s right wing so can get the votes.
If Jeremy hadn’t said that independence was out for Scotland, he’d have a much higher approval rating. Most of us respect his policies, apart from that one.
Ross Armour
More evidence to suggest the Corbyn project isn’t working. I for one was willing to give Jeremy a chance and by moving to the left, I thought we would win back support in Scotland. We need to at least start doing that if we are to have any chance at the next general election. Time for a change
Eric
Frann, the picture you paint of Labour and Scotland is so far from reality I originally thought you must have mixed up countries or something but reading your post again I can see you’re a troll. I’m guessing the variety who have deluded themselves into thinking that an independent Scotland would suddenly become the socialist paradise you obviously crave for.
The reality is of course that at the last Holyrood election the two parties that did well were the two parties that refused to raise tax or re distribute wealth in any form whatsoever, the SNP and the tories. Labour, The Greens and the Lib Dems all wanted to raise taxes. The Scots went out in droves and voted for the low tax parties. For all the big talk about Scots being great socialists once they’re in the polling station they vote tory or tory lite.
Matt
Ms Leach’s comments are rude and offensive. Bout what we have come to expect from the Corbynistas. Totally deluded to blame Corbyn,s unpopularity on the actions of the PLP. #notacult