Sadiq Khan has been handed a huge poll boost as his campaign for a third term begins to warm up.
A new YouGov survey for Queen Mary University of London’s Mile End Institute gives Khan a whopping 25-point lead over his Tory rival Susan Hall.
With six months to go before the next mayoral election at the start of May 2024, the London mayor has seen his chances of reelection given a ten-point boost.
Green candidate Zoe Garbett is on 11 per cent, Rob Blackie of the Liberal Democrats is on 7 per cent and Howard Cox of Reform UK is 4 per cent.
Analysis shows that even if Hall revs up her ULEZ campaign, she pushes Green voters towards Khan, which will be seen as a huge win for the Labour man.
But it’s not all good news for Labour.
Dr Elizabeth Simon, postdoctoral researcher in British Politics at Queen Mary University of London, said: “While it looks likely that Sadiq Khan will be able to celebrate securing a record third term as Mayor of London in May 2024, Londoners’ ratings of his performance while in post offer less cause for celebration.”
The poll showed 30 per cent of Londoners are satisfied with the way Khan has performed since becoming Mayor while 46 per cent are dissatisfied, giving a net approval rating of -16 per cent.
Older Londoners (those aged 50+), people living in Outer London and those who voted to leave the EU in 2016 and/or for the Conservatives in 2019 appear to be particularly dissatisfied with his performance.
At elections, however, voters even if dissatisfied with one party or another, or particular candidates, face a choice of which one they prefer.
Khan also appears to be benefiting from the overall level of support for Labour in the city.
More than half of Londoners, 55 per cent, would vote Labour if there was a General Election tomorrow and 20 per cent Conservative – a 35-point lead for Sir Keir Starmer’s party in the capital, compared to being ahead by around 15 to 20 points in the country as a whole.
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