With two weeks to go before the election YouGov polling suggests Theresa May might have an unpleasant shock on June 8th. As her personal polling takes a dive, Jeremy Corbyn’s has become positive, rising even higher that Ed Miliband’s.
The online poll, taking place on YouGov’s website, collated 125,000 responses over the last few months and show a distinct positive trend in his personal rating. He is the second most rated figure of all time, and has a positive rating of +9%. This is up from -22% just one month ago. An amazing recovery for the supposedly embattled leader.
When asked to pick words to describe him the public chose words and phrases like “honest,” “principled,” “genuine,” and both in touch with and standing up for ordinary people. They also picked his strongest trait as being “ethical.”
This puts him now ten points above current “liberal bae” and “guilty crush” Ed, Tough Stuff, Miliband. Ed has also seen an uptick in his poll rating but has not managed the swing that Corbyn seems to have pulled off in the last month. This should serve as a stunning reminder that despite the warblings of the “anyone but Corbyn” they never found “anyone” who could do the job.
If Corbyn’s polling rating is shooting up, things are less happy in Ms May’s camp. Her personal polling rating has slid over the last few weeks, coinciding with the slide in Tory polling. This makes sense given her insistence on making the campaign all about her.
Her poll rating has slid by more than 20 points in a month according to the same website. She now sits at an abysmal -45. This is a stunning collapse for a sitting Prime Minister presiding over a relatively stable economic period. The descriptions they’ve picked are equally negative, with the public branding her “untrustworthy,” ”arrogant,” “out of touch,” and perhaps worst of all…”Conservative.”
Whilst the polling is far from scientific, and is sadly not properly weighted, it suggests one important thing: Corbyn has generated enthusiasm. Whilst he might not have always made the best choices, his supporters back him ferociously, defending him to the hilt and ensuring he gets a fair hearing.
In this case, the polling is unrepresentative but is a good example of his current reach and presence. He is the second most rated politician, and the current highest rated party leader. That enthusiasm has to count for something, particularly when he’s engaging voters like never before.
