Boost for Boris Johnson as Tories take 15-point poll lead over Labour and hoover up Brexiteer vote
3 min read
The Tories have opened up a fifteen-point poll lead over Labour and strengthen their standing with Brexit supporters, a fresh study has found.
In a boost for Boris Johnson, the latest Opinium survey puts the Conservatives on 38% support, with Jeremy Corbyn’s party trailing on just 23% of the vote.
The finding represents a two-point climb for the Tories since last week’s survey, while Labour has dropped by 1%.
The poll will also make for grim reading at Liberal Democrat HQ, with Jo Swinson’s party tumbling by five percent since last week to register 15% support in the survey. They are followed by the Brexit Party on 12%.
The study meanwhile finds that Mr Johnson - who this week unveiled his pitch to the EU for a Brexit deal - has hoovered up support among those who voted to Leave the EU in 2017.
Opinium’s researchers found that the Conservatives now have the support of 60% of Leave voters - the highest figure registered since before the 2017 snap election that cost Theresa May her Commons majority.
Labour meanwhile appears to be making inroads with Remain voters to the cost of the Lib Dems, with 39% of Remain supporters now saying they will vote for Mr Corbyn’s party, versus 30% for Ms Swinson’s outfit.
The Lib Dems have dropped seven points among Remainers in a week, while Labour have climbed nine points.
'CONSOLIDATING THE LEAVE VOTE'
Adam Drummond, head of political polling at Opinium, said: “Post-conference the Conservatives are in much the same position as they were going into it with a substantial lead over Labour, based on consolidating the Leave vote while the Remain vote continues to oscillate between Labour and Lib Dems, and Boris Johnson leading Jeremy Corbyn on who would be the best prime minister by a substantial margin.”
The study also gauged reaction to Mr Johnson’s plan to replace the Irish backstop and try and strike a Brexit deal with the European Union.
It reveals that 45% of Leave voters think the proposals would form the basis of a good deal for the UK - compared to just 15% of Brexiteers who thought the same about Theresa May’s proposals when they were unveiled earlier this year.
Seven percent of Leave voters believe Mr Johnson’s plans would represent a bad deal for Britain, while 40% of Remainers think the same.
”Johnson’s ‘plan for a deal’ polls better than Theresa May’s deal did in February but it has two crucial advantages,” Mr Drummond of Opinium said.
“The first is that Boris Johnson, leader of the Leave campaign, supports it which, regardless of the details, lends it a degree of legitimacy among :eave voters that his resignation from the cabinet helped to destroy for Theresa May’s.
“The second is that Theresa May’s deal had been agreed with the European Union whereas the EU has already said that ‘the UK proposals do not provide a basis for concluding an agreement’. Any comparisons therefore need to bear these in mind.”
Opinium polled 2,006 UK adults between 3-4 October, with results weighted to provide a representative sample.
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