Dame Tessa Jowell remains the public’s preferred choice as Labour’s Mayoral candidate according a new YouGov poll carried out for LBC.
The former Culture Secretary and Olympics minister is the choice of 42% of poll respondents, double the number naming Tooting MP Sadiq Khan who is in second place.
Dame Tessa also has a clear lead over Khan among Labour supporters – 37% back her bid compared to 25% for Khan – and enjoys the backing of 58% of Conservative voters, 48% of Liberal Democrat supporters and 58% of UKIP voters.
Khan’s support among these groups is 14%, 25% and 11% respectively.
With the Mayoral election decided by a second round of voting in which all but the top two candidates are eliminated, candidates must have broad support outside their own party to be in with a chance of victory.
Today’s poll suggests Jowell would beat likely Tory runner Zac Goldsmith by 53% to 47% in the final run-off, making a Jowell bid Labour’s best chance of scoring its second ever win at City Hall. The party last won a Mayoral contest in 2004.
Mr Goldsmith is the preferred Tory candidate of 79% of Londoners and 83% of Tory members, dwarfing the 9% and 6% enjoyed by his closest rival, London’s deputy mayor for policing Stephen Greenhalgh.
The Richmond Park MP is also the preferred Tory candidate for 69% of Labour voters, 87% of LibDems and 87% of UKIP voters.
Goldsmith’s best chance of succeeding Boris Johnson as Mayor seems to rest with Labour picking Khan as its candidate, today’s poll suggests that in a contest between the two men Goldsmith would win by 54% to 46%.
YouGov’s poll also casts doubt on the wisdom of Mr Khan’s decision to make his faith central to his mayoral ambitions, with only half of respondents saying they’d be comfortable if the next Mayor was a Muslim and 31% saying they would be uncomfortable.
And in a potentially serious blow to Mr Khan’s hopes of winning his party’s nomination next month, almost a quarter (22%) of Labour’s own voters say they’d be uncomfortable with a Muslim in charge at City Hall.
