Could Jeremy Corbyn actually win the Labour leadership race? A new poll from The Times/YouGov suggests that he will. The new poll of eligible voters in the leadership contest — party members, registered supporters and affiliated trade unionists — has Corbyn on track to win in the final round of voting with 53 per cent of the vote, with the current bookies’ favourite Andy Burnham trailing six points behind on 47 per cent.
The left-wing leadership candidate’s lead on first preferences is even more jaw-dropping. YouGov has Corbyn on 43 per cent, compared to Burnham on 26, Yvette Cooper on 20 and Liz Kendall on 11. Based on this, Kendall would be knocked out in the first round and her votes redistributed to other candidates.
YouGov also reports that just 20 per cent or so of eligible voters have yet to make up their minds about which candidate to back. But nearly two thirds of those surveyed said the next leader should be ‘in touch with the concerns of ordinary people’, compared to 27 per cent who said the next Labour leader should ‘understood what is takes to win an election’.
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