LONDON — Luckily for Boris Johnson, the other guy looks even worse.

Despite consistently leading the polls, Conservative candidates and campaigners have found little love for the Tory leader while knocking on doors in some key battlegrounds ahead of the U.K.'s December election.

It would be an "understatement" to suggest Johnson is not going down well on the doorstep, one Tory candidate in a London seat said. "I think a lot of people are questioning whether they can trust him, there is also an element of, 'Has he always told us the truth?' There are some people who think his private life is something we should look at."

But two weeks from polling day, even some Labour candidates privately believe the prime minister could win his long-desired majority. Johnson won't be nudged over the line by a wave of mega fans, however, even according to some of his own party, but rather by voters who held their noses, judging Labour's Jeremy Corbyn even less palatable.

The latest Ipsos Mori political monitor from November found 44 percent of voters "like" Boris Johnson, compared with 23 percent who "like" Corbyn. Corbyn’s likability ratings were the worst Ipsos MORI has seen for a leader of either of the two main parties since 2007.

The first-past-the-post system "forces people into making choices that they don’t like,” according to Chris Hanretty, a consultant at polling company Survation.

The divisive personalities of the current leaders of Britain's main parties have brought to the surface long-running concerns about the U.K.'s electoral system, with some questioning whether it is time to rethink how democracy works in the country. The dilemma for voters is exaggerated too by Brexit, with the 2016 EU referendum splitting both the main parties along unfamiliar lines.

The U.K.'s first-past-the-post electoral system — in which voters choose one candidate in their constituency and the candidate with the most votes wins, disregarding all other votes — has left some fearing their ballot paper will be wasted in a winner-takes-all contest.

The system means an increasing number of voters could vote tactically and opt for their least-worst candidate among the two leading parties — in most cases the Conservatives or Labour — rather than risk voting for a smaller party whose policies they may actually support but whose candidates are unlikely to win seats. Voters who want their preferred Brexit outcome to take priority, for example, could end up backing a candidate whom they otherwise dislike.

The first-past-the-post system "forces people into making choices that they don’t like,” according to Chris Hanretty, a consultant at polling company Survation.

There have long been calls for reform, and the 2019 election has heightened warnings the system could be "threatening democracy."

"It needs a bit of courage from somebody to say that democracy is suffering, it is not legitimate," said Willie Sullivan, senior director of the Electoral Reform Society, a pressure group pushing for a new voting system.

Anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller, who has set up a tactical voting website for voters who support remaining in the EU in this election, said it is "unfair" that a party could win 6 million votes and not be represented in parliament. "It is a mismatch between the polling booths and parliament," she added.

Polls suggest about a third of voters now cast their vote based on a tactical choice, and Miller's research suggests that figure is even higher, at 45 percent, among Remainers.

Better the devil you know

In pro-EU London, where Johnson's stewardship of the Brexit referendum campaign has seen him go from popular two-term mayor to bogeyman, is a case in point.

The Tory candidate from London believes his seat may only be saved by voters facing even more unpopular alternatives. While many of his long-standing supporters seriously toyed with the idea of voting for the pro-EU Liberal Democrats, they appear to have reconsidered, the candidate said.

"People understand tactical voting, they understand it is only going to be a Labour government that can stop Boris" — Labour candidate

Voters are questioning the impact Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson would be able to have — given it is almost impossible for her to win an outright majority — and are also uncomfortable with her policy to cancel Brexit and disregard the EU referendum result. "A lot of people think it is an anti-democratic thing to do," the candidate said.

"A lot of them are pretty cross [with Boris Johnson] but at the same time, they are really very concerned about Mr. Corbyn. The [Conservative] vote is hardening up, but it has not been easy," he said.

Elsewhere, antipathy toward Corbyn in the north of England — home of former Labour strongholds where the Tories need to make gains if they are to win a majority in parliament — is even more stark according to Robert Hayward, a polling expert and Conservative peer.

"It is fair to say that the white, working class dislike of Jeremy Corbyn is far stronger than anything I have experienced in the south. It is a completely different general election. [There is] no love of Boris but that almost doesn’t matter," he said following a visit to the region last week.

"The anti-Jeremy Corbyn experience would indicate that the betting markets might just be right in pointing to serious Labour losses in the old mining and industrial areas," he added.

But in Conservative Campaign Headquarters, strategists insist their candidate is popular. "People are positive about Boris, the whole message of get Brexit done has been going down well," one official said.

Relying on tactics

If Corbyn is to prevent the Conservatives from winning a majority, it will be at the expense of the Liberal Democrats, and because of tactical voting, according to one Labour candidate.

"People understand tactical voting, they understand it is only going to be a Labour government that can stop Boris," he said.

The candidate admits he faces an uphill struggle, but hopes Corbyn's performance in the televised debates could help people hold their nose in the other direction and vote Labour.

"We have had a lot of people who are saying 'Look I want to vote for you, but I don’t know if I can,' he said. "They have seen Corbyn [in the debates], and that he isn't as bad they thought. I have to admit he didn't lose his temper, seem short-tempered and angry."

When directly asked about his personal ratings at a press conference this week, Corbyn insisted the election is about more than his leadership. "It’s about what our manifesto says, it’s about what all of our 637 Labour candidates are saying across the country,” he added.

"People don’t trust in politicians and if we don’t do something about it then our democracy is under threat" — Willie Sullivan, senior director of the Electoral Reform Society

Gina Miller is optimistic that pro-Remain voters will not ultimately hold their noses for the Conservatives, but for pro-Remain candidates, including from the Labour Party.

"None of the data we have shows that [the Conservatives] are going to get a landslide, or that people are going to hold their nose. [The Conservatives] are on a downward trajectory," she said. This year's election is following the pattern of Theresa May's disastrous 2017 election when there was a big squeeze on the Tory vote in the last week of the campaign, depriving May of a majority, she thinks.

"The deficits of the first-past-the-post system can only be addressed through tactical voting. We don't have time to change the system so therefore voters have to change their behavior," she said.

"[Tactical voting] has been on the rise since the decline of these big two party blocks in British society and politics," according to the Electoral Reform Society's Sullivan. "As other parties have emerged you see people thinking they might want to vote for somebody else, or something different, but in an election are being forced to choose one or the other just because that is the way the electoral system works."

Sullivan said more and more people are "gaming the system."

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"There is more and more consciousness of the symptoms [of the failed U.K. political system], but people are probably not entirely connecting it to the cause yet, because it is not obvious and a straight line."

With the Tories and Labour both being rewarded by the system, Sullivan questions if reform will come anytime soon.

"People don’t trust in politicians and if we don’t do something about it then our democracy is under threat. You need to be big enough to say this is not just about party advantage, it is about saving democracy," he added.

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