Labour leadership candidate as popular with Ukip voters as Labour voters, Survation finds, and is top in London, according to separate poll

Jeremy Corbyn is more popular than the other Labour leadership candidates with the wider electorate and fares particularly well with Ukip supporters as well as those from his own party, a Survation poll suggests.

The survey of 1,000 people found that Corbyn scored the highest when they were asked about his personal qualities and which candidate would be the best at holding the government to account as the leader of the opposition.

Among Ukip voters, 39% of them liked him the most, higher than the 38% of Labour voters who said so. But just 22% of Conservatives liked Corbyn, compared with 25% who preferred Andy Burnham.

When asked who would make the best prime minister, Burnham was narrowly ahead with 25%, against 24% for Corbyn, and the two men were tied on 26% on who would be the most likely to win the next general election as Labour leader.

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The two other candidates, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall, were trailing the others on the majority of questions asked.



Survation said that, on the face of it, the results did not bear out arguments from senior Labour figures that either Corbyn or his policies would be deeply unpopular with the country.

But the other camps and non-Corbyn supporters are likely to point out that it needs treating with some caution, given that voters who support other parties could have varied motives for saying they like or dislike Corbyn.

The polling was commissioned by the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association and carried out this week, but Survation said it was completely independent and followed the same online methodology as on previous occasions when it has conducted polls on the Labour leadership for the Mail on Sunday.

A poll for the Evening Standard by YouGov on Friday found Corbyn was the first choice of Londoners to lead Labour – defying claims that his appeal is limited to leftwingers and trade unionists. This found he was more popular with better-off voters, the young, old, Lib Dems and Ukip voters. While he had 46% of support, Burnham came second on 21%, Cooper was third on 20% and Kendall last at 12%.

Before answering the Survation questions, the people surveyed were shown short videos of all the candidates being interviewed on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.

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Ukip and Labour supporters appeared especially keen on Corbyn, ranking him the highest for being the most likely to take the Labour party in the right direction, having the best ideas about the future of the UK, caring the most about helping the British people and making the best leader. In contrast, Conservatives opted for Burnham on most measures.

Corbyn scored highest for seeming to be in touch with ordinary people at 57%, trustworthy at 40%, intelligent at 79%, and most likely to fare best in a television debate against David Cameron at 33%. Burnham scored highest for seeming tough at 43% and Kendall for seeming normal at 69%.

Asked whether the candidate would make you more or less likely to vote for the Labour party, a net 32% said yes to Corbyn, compared with 25% for Burnham, 22% for Kendall and 20% for Cooper.