Just 13 per cent of British Jews plan to vote for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party next week, an exclusive JC poll has revealed.
Theresa May’s Conservatives have the support of 77 per cent of Jewish voters.
Labour’s overall 13 per cent voting intention figure represents an increase of 4.5 per cent since the question was last asked, in May 2016, by Survation, the polling company which questions Jewish voters on behalf of the JC.
Asked the same question then, just 8.5 per cent of British Jews said they would vote for the party if an election took place. That result however immediately followed months of suspensions of party members for alleged antisemitism, and with no prospect of an imminent election.
Ahead of the 2015 general election, 18 per cent of the community pledged support for Labour under Ed Miliband’s leadership. Asked this week, 14 per cent of British Jews said they had gone ahead and voted for the party two years ago, with the Tories receiving 67 per cent of the community’s votes.
Of the three major parties (plus Ukip), Labour is seen as having the biggest problem with antisemitism.
Asked to place the parties on a scale from one to five, with 1 meaning there are “low levels of antisemitism among the political party’s members and elected representatives” and 5 representing “high levels”, Jews put Labour at 3.94 out of five.
Ukip was seen as the party with the next biggest problem with Jew-hate — on 3.63 out of five — with the Liberal Democrats scoring 2.7 and the Conservatives on just 1.96, less than half of Labour’s score.
The Liberal Democrats can expect to attract seven per cent of Jewish votes next week, up from almost five per cent in 2015. The party is more popular in London than in Manchester, where its Jewish support is below four per cent.
Two per cent of Jews will support parties other than the Conservatives, Labour and the Lib Dems.
The plea by Tim Farron, Lib Dem leader, for disaffected Jewish Labour voters to turn to his party has attracted only eight per cent of Labour voters who say they will not vote for Mr Corbyn’s party this time, the poll shows.
Results reveal support for Labour is highest among Jews aged 18-34, at 23 per cent. But among those over 55, it drops to just nine per cent. The party is slightly more popular in Manchester, attracting nearly 16 per cent of Jews, as opposed to 14 per cent in London.
More than 80 per cent of British Jews aged over 55 said they would vote Tory. Of those voters who said they would not vote Labour, one in three said Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the party made no difference to their voting intention. But more than half – 54 per cent – said they would be more likely to vote for the party if someone other than Mr Corbyn was leader.
One in 10 would be less likely to vote Labour if someone other than Mr Corbyn was leading the party into the election.
Survation polled a representative sample of 515 British Jews over the last week.
To see the full results of the survey, click here
