The new COMRES poll suggests Livingstone has the support of just 47% of Londoners, while Johnson attracts the support of 53%.
The figures show recent headlines about tax have seriously damaged the former Mayor’s chances of returning to City Hall next month with 45% saying they are “less likely” to vote for him as a result.
In January Livingstone enjoyed a 2 point lead over Johnson in two separate polls, a lead widely attributed to his high profile fares campaign.
However claims that he’d minimised his tax liability and a row over remarks about the voting intentions of Jewish Londoners have since overshadowed the Labour campaign.
In February Johnson reversed Livingstone’s 2 point lead and last month took a convincing 8 point lead in a YouGov poll.
Today’s COMRES poll, though slightly reducing Johnson’s lead, would see the Mayor return to City Hall and a second defeat for Livingstone.
Although Livingstone leads Johnson on the issues of who is “the more serious candidate” and who “would deliver the most improvement to London’s public transport system”, just 24% expect him to win while 47% say the same of Johnson.
Mr Johnson also leads his predecessor on on who would secure the best deal from national Government, who would be best at tackling crime and who is most trusted to delver their promises.
Livingstone does however lead when Londoners are asked which of the front runners “understands the lives of people like me” and “is in touch with the needs of ordinary people”.
Today’s poll places Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick on 6% with the Green party’s Jenny Jones narrowly behind on 4%.
Candidates for Mayor include Jenny Jones (Green party), Ken Livingstone (Labour), Lawrence Webb (UKIP) Boris Johnson (Conservative) and Brian Paddick (Liberal Democrat). A full list of candidates can be found here.
Candidates standing as London Assembly constituency members can be found here. Candidates for the 11 Assembly London-wide seats can be found here.
