British voters back Labour’s promise to nationalize the railways and tax the rich, but when it comes to choosing the country’s next prime minister, Theresa May is still the favorite for the job, polling data shows.
According to a new ComRes poll for the Mirror, 52 percent of Brits support bringing the railways back into public ownership – one of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s flagship policies.
Nearly half agree with the leader of the opposition and want to renationalize the energy industry, compared to only 24 percent who want to keep it in private hands.
What’s more, Conservative pledges like scrapping the ban on fox hunting, a rural tradition associated with the old aristocracy, are only backed by 12 percent of the population, with nearly 80 percent strongly opposing the policy.
However, when asked which party “seems to have more realistic and well thought through policies,” 51 percent of those quizzed still answered in favor of the Tories.
Political commentators were both perplexed and amused by the findings.
“This country is very confused,” tweeted the Independent’s political correspondent, Ashley Cowburn.
“ComRes poll confirms what I predicted: Labour’s policies will be popular. But that’s not enough to win,” added New Statesman political editor George Eaton.
Even the right-wing press seemed to see the possibilities opened by the controversial Labour manifesto, with the Sun’s deputy political editor, Steve Hawkes, writing: “New ComRes poll suggests 41 percent of the public still haven’t made their mind up who to vote for – though 56 percent think Corbyn would be a disaster as PM.”
A draft version of the Labour manifesto was leaked to the mainstream media on Wednesday evening, prompting equal measures of jubilation and mockery about its openly socialist agenda.
Some of Labour’s key policies include bringing the Royal Mail back into public hands, securing the pensions ‘triple lock’ and banning so-called zero-hours contracts.
All the policies were supported by the majority of voters in a snap opinion poll. Even 60 percent of Conservative voters backed the end of controversial zero-hours contracts.
And in spite of the mainstream media’s clamor against Labour’s proposal to raise income tax for those earning more than £80,000 (US$103,000) a year, the public was widely in support, with 65 percent of those polled saying they like the policy.
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But while Labour leads the polls on matters such as education and health, it’s still doing poorly compared to the people’s trust in the Tories’ competence to deal with crime, defense and economic matters.
Theresa May is expected to take advantage of these stats on Friday in a speech where she will urge working class voters to “put your trust in me.”
“Millions of people here in the northeast of England, and across our country, have loyally given the Labour Party their allegiance for generations,” the PM will say as she starts campaigning in Labour’s northeastern heartlands.
“I respect that. We respect that parents and grandparents taught their children and grandchildren that Labour was a party that shared their values and stood up for their community. But across the country today, traditional Labour supporters are increasingly looking at what Jeremy Corbyn believes in and are appalled.”