Voters abandon ‘shambles’ Labour – with Jeremy Corbyn their top reason

YouGov survey finds 20 per cent drop in Labour support among those polled in 2016

 

Voters who earlier this year said they would back Labour but have changed their minds say the party is ‘a shambles’, with Jeremy Corbyn the single biggest reason for their switch.

YouGov contacted 1,000 people who said they would vote Labour when polled earlier in 2016, and found 200 had decided not to vote Labour. These 200 were invited to write a sentence or two about why.

Of these, 29 per cent said ‘I don’t like Jeremy Corbyn as leader’ – the largest single reason by a margin of 11 per cent.

Labour's lost voters-01

Next down on the list was that ‘Labour are a shambles’ (18 per cent), followed by ‘No confidence in Labour at the moment’ (12 per cent) and ‘Labour are too divided’ (ten per cent).

Seven per cent blamed Labour’s handling of Brexit and/or the EU referendum, while ten per cent said they did not know how to vote.

YouGov created a ‘world cloud’ using respondents’ answers based on frequency of words used:

word cloud 2-01

Still, the results give ammunition to both sides of the party.

Supporters of Corbyn can blame MPs’ resignations, vote of no-confidence and leadership challenge for the impression of Labour as a ‘shambles’ and ‘divided’.

Corbyn’s critics will say that 29 per cent blaming his leadership for their changed minds adds to evidence Corbyn is more popular among party members than with the general public.

Ballot papers went out yesterday for the Labour Party leadership election.

Jeremy Corbyn’s support inside the party is likely to see him defeat challenger Owen Smith and be re-elected as leader in time for party conference in September.

Smith was endorsed this week by London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale.

Trade union endorsements are split between the two candidates, but among the biggest unions, Corbyn is backed by Unite and Unison, while Smith is backed by GMB and USDAW.

See: Jeremy Corbyn is behind Theresa May among Labour supporters

See: Diane Abbott: Jeremy Corbyn’s vision can win a general election

 

14 Responses to “Voters abandon ‘shambles’ Labour – with Jeremy Corbyn their top reason”

  1. David Seymour

    Actually, it is 20 per cent who have dropped support (200 out of 1,000) not 29 per cent. Still highly significant.

  2. Alasdair Macdonald

    For some years I have signed up to be polled by several companies. From this experience, it is clear that a great deal of polling is commissioned to get the kind of answer which the commissioner wants. The tone of this article and the general hostility shown to Mr Corbyn’s campaign by this website, suggests that the result quoted is such a poll.

  3. Imran Khan

    Alasdair. I am sure you have a point. It’s just that I’m not sure what it is. Could you enlighten us?

  4. Steve Mizzy

    Did LFF commission YouGov to carry out the poll?

    Nothing to suggest it did, so you have to accept it at face value I’d have thought. Like all polls you cannot read too much into them singly. Taken together, with other polls showing similar levels of dissatisfaction with Corbyn and declining support for him, its probably fair to say that a bit of a trend is developing.

  5. wg

    What scared off the voters before Corbyn came along?

    Just vote for Owen Smith, and we can return to the days of unicorns and pots of gold at the end of the rainbow.

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