Almost 80 per cent of non-Labour voters say the party has the wrong leadership
Almost 80 per cent of non-Labour voters do not believe the party has the right leader in Jeremy Corbyn, new polling figures show.
Research published in the Sunday Mirror today shows an overwhelming 77 per cent of those who backed other parties in 2015 also dismissed Corbyn.
A further 73 per cent said they do not believe Labour has the right policies, while 71 per cent said the party had lost touch with working people.
ComRes made the findings in a survey of 1,047 adults taken after the party's historic by-election defeat last week.
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The Conservatives became the first governing party to win a seat from the official opposition for 35 years by defeating Labour in Copeland.
And while Corbyn's party held on in Stoke-on-Trent, its majority was halved.
ComRes found across all age groups, genders and regions, voters would be more likely to support Labour in future under a different leader.
Some 57 per cent of Lib Dem voters said they would back Labour at a future election if Corbyn stood down, while almost a quarter of Ukip voters said the same.
Similarly, just over one in three Labour voters said a change of leadership would make them more likely to vote for the party in future.
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Corbyn has admitted the Copeland by-election result was “deeply disappointing”, and speaking at the Scottish Labour conference, his deputy leader Tom Watson said “things have to change” but stressed the party should not seek new leadership.
“We cannot sustain this level of distance from the electorate, from our natural supporters,” Watson said.
“We have to make it clear we are on the side of people who create prosperity, as well as those who need the security of good jobs."