Jeremy Corbyn is 'out of touch' and an 'election loser' among working class voters, poll finds

Poll for The Independent shows a major disconnect between traditional Labour voters and new Corbyn supporters

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (AFP/Getty)

The extent of the challenge facing Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader has been laid bare by a detailed study showing broad negative views of him among working-class voters.

Exclusive BMG Research polling for The Independent reveals almost half of the unskilled workers and manual labourers that Mr Corbyn needs in order to become Prime Minister believe him to be “out of touch” and an “election loser”.

More than a third thought him “incompetent” and “naive”, with middle-class voters sometimes holding slightly more positive views of the Labour leader.

The survey also exposes how impressions of Mr Corbyn held by those planning to support him in the future are completely detached from working-class voters and people who backed Labour at the 2015 election.

Among the population more broadly, almost half thought he had not performed well at moving Labour towards its goals or opposing the Government, though more than a third did believe he was being true to his party’s values.

Mr Corbyn swept to victory in the Labour leadership contest, with results announced on Saturday showing that he won almost 62 per cent of the vote to defeat a challenge from Owen Smith. Mr Corbyn increased his mandate in the process.

BMG’s polling suggests Mr Corbyn has huge amount of work to do in convincing voters who once backed his party automatically that he is the man for them.

The pollsters asked people to give their view of the leader across a range of different character traits – including whether they believe him an “election winner” or an “election loser”, or to say they “don’t know”.

Of the C2DE class voters, likely to have been hit hardest by austerity policies, 46 per cent said they thought Mr Corbyn an “election loser”, just 19 per cent believed him a winner and 35 per cent did not know.

That was a reverse from those saying they will back Mr Corbyn from now on – among whom 46 per cent said he is a winner and 19 per cent said they did not know. But even among those pledging future support, more than a third, 34 per cent, thought him an “election loser”.

Worryingly for Labour, just 22 per cent of working-class people thought Mr Corbyn “in touch with voters”, while 42 per cent said he is “out of touch” and 36 per cent did not know.

Asked if people thought him “competent” or “incompetent”, working-class voters again gave an unsettling response. More than a third, 36 per cent, went for incompetent, only 26 per cent went for competent and 38 per cent did not know. That compared with 32 per cent of ABC1 middle-class voters who were prepared to say the Labour leader was “competent”.

Among those planning to support Mr Corbyn in the future, some 65 per cent thought him “competent”, just 17 per cent “incompetent” and 18 per cent didn’t know.

The pattern repeated itself when asking if the Islington North MP is “insightful” or “naive” and if he is “the best choice for Labour leader” or “not the best choice”.

For working-class voters 42 per cent thought him “not the best choice” and 35 per cent thought him “naïve”, compared with just 19 per cent who said he was the “best choice” and 21 per cent who said he was “insightful”.

With those pledging future support, 49 per cent found him “insightful” and 26 per cent “naïve”, while 51 per cent thought him the “best choice” for leader and 29 per cent “not the best choice”.

The bright spot for Mr Corbyn was that across all categories of voter more people thought of him as “just” (37 per cent) than “unjust” (23 per cent).

Research director Dr Michael Turner said: "Though the general public are fairly united in their views of the current Labour leader, there is a clear gap in the perception of Mr Corbyn between new and old Labour voters.

"Our latest poll demonstrates just how much Labour's support has changed since Jeremy became leader, and all the evidence suggests that unless Labour’s membership changes in a significant way, Corbyn’s support is here to stay.

"For instance, an overwhelming majority of those who voted Labour previously, but wouldn’t today, say that they view Corbyn as an election loser. It is only among new Labour supporters that Jeremy is seen as a winner."

In terms of his leadership so far, 36 per cent of all voters thought he had been “good” at being true to Labour values, 24 per cent thought he had been “bad” and 40 per cent did not know.

The figures were harsher when it came to “managing the party towards its goals”, with 44 per cent rating him as “bad”, 21 per cent as “good” and 36 per cent not knowing.

Similarly, for “holding the Government to account” he scored 40 per cent “bad”, 23 per cent “good” and 36 per cent “don’t know”.

BMG Research polled 1,862 UK adults between 21-23 September 2016. Data are weighted