Photo: Getty.

Labour has a lead in the opinion polls, but it is a very slight one. Throughout 2012, after the so-called ‘Omnishambles’ budget, the party enjoyed ratings in the mid 40 per cent range. Since then, the party’s lead has slipped and Labour has only the narrowest lead over the Conservatives.

While the figures vary from poll to poll, and pollster to pollster, the Populus January aggregate gave Labour a lead of less than 2 per cent (similar to May2015’s 5-day average of the polls).

But who’s voting Labour? Using the same approach as we did last week for Ukip, we can produce an index to see who’s backing the party.

In the analysis below, an index score of 100 is average, showing the group is no more or less likely than average to vote Labour. Scores above 100 indicate a greater level of support, and scores below 100 a less than average level of support.

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Labour supporters are younger rather than older – the party is strongest amongst those aged 18-44, and weakest amongst those aged 55+.

The party is, just a little more likely to be supported by women than men, but neither the gender nor age differences are as pronounced as those seen between the Greens and Ukip. Unsurprisingly, as a more mainstream party, Labour draws support from a broader range of people.

There is evidence that the party maintains a stronger appeal amongst its traditional base. Those in the socio-economic groups C2, D and E – a classification that broadly refers to the working class, or those in skilled and unskilled manual roles (and those dependent on the welfare state) – are relatively strong Labour supporters.

Labour noticeably underperform among retirees and outright homeowners.

Labour do less well among ABC1s – broadly the middle class.

Geographically, Labour performs well in Wales, the West Midlands and throughout northern England. The party’s difficulties in Scotland are much discussed, and Labour indeed ‘under-indexes’ here, as it does in East Anglia and throughout southern England. The exception is in London where the party performs more strongly.

Labour’s success in London points to a broader trend; it is a party that does better in towns and cities than in rural areas. Labour noticeably underperform amongst two other groups: those who have retired and those who own their homes outright (e.g. have paid off their mortgages).

In turn, Ukip and the Conservatives over-perform amongst these groups.

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Strong support for Labour comes from those who work in the public sector, those currently not working, and those renting both privately and (especially) from housing associations or councils.

Labour’s strongest spike in support, however, comes from ‘Black Asian’ and ‘Minority Ethnic’ voters, with a very high index score of 195 (in other words, they do 95 per cent better than average among them).

Labour’s support from non-white voters is as striking as UKIP’s unpopularity among them.

The Labour Party of 2015 draws support from a range of sources. More than half (56 per cent) of its current supporters also voted for the party in 2010. But Labour has also drawn support from 2010 Liberal Democrat voters (indeed, Labour are the main beneficiary of the Lib Dem collapse), a tiny proportion of 2010 Conservative voters, and those who didn’t – or couldn’t – vote in 2010.

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Few 2010 Labour voters have defected from the party – more than four-in-five of those who voted for the party in 2010 still plan to do so, according to our numbers (the numbers are slightly different for other pollsters).

Of those who voted for Labour in May 2010 but don’t plan to do so this May, it is Ukip that are the largest beneficiary, albeit only by a fraction.

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Labour, of course, draws support from all parts of the country – no party can lead the polls and ignore an entire part of society.

But the party clearly has its heartlands and our index reveals the typical Labour supporter: a thirty-something manual worker in the public sector, living in northern England, and perhaps renting their home.