Support amongst Jewish voters for Labour soars under Starmer, new poll confirms
Gap in support for Tories over Labour in the community shrinks to just nine per cent, Survation/JC poll confirms
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
Support for Labour under the leadership of Keir Starmer has risen dramatically amongst Jewish voters, a new poll has confirmed.
A survey carried out by respected polling firm Survation for the Jewish Chronicle showed 33 percent intended to vote Labour on July 4th, a massive increase on the nine percent who said they would back the party under Jeremy Corbyn in 2019.
Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives still attracted more support than Labour, with 42 percent of Jewish voters saying they would vote for his party at the general election.
But this represented a steep decline on the 64 percent who said they would vote for the Tories under Boris Johnson.
Instead of the 59 point lead the Tories had over Labour going into the 2019 election, the lead is now down to nine points.
If replicated at the election, the swing in support for Labour in the community could have a huge impact on results in seats with large Jewish populations.
These include the three Barnet seats, those in Bury, Leeds and in Hertsmere.
The Liberal Democrats have also seen their support fall with just six percent saying they will vote for Ed Davey’s party, compared to the 21 percent in 2019.
Asked what issues mattered most going into the election 23 percent said the cost of living.
Antisemitism was ranked most important by 19 per cent, healthcare and the NHS by 15 per cent, and policy towards the current Israel – Hamas war by 11 per cent.
On who they trusted more as leader 22 per cent rated Sunak at between 7 – 10, as opposed to 16 per cent Starmer.
Labour has held commanding leads in most national polls, but experts point to the fact tha the Jewish electorate is significantly older, with almost a third being over 65, against a national average of 24 percent, as factor in making it more conservative.
Survation polled a panel of 504 demographically representative Jewish voters by landline and mobile telephone over a five-day period ending on 14 June.
Mike Katz, National Chair of the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM), said“This poll shows what we are picking it up on the doorsteps – Jewish people understand that Keir Starmer has made good on his promise of zero tolerance for antisemitism and that Labour is a totally changed party from the last general election.
“We now see Corbyn kicked out of the party and a significant number of Jewish candidates and JLM allies running for parliament. We don’t expect every Jew to vote Labour; but we want them to have a proper choice at the ballot box – a choice they were denied in 2019. Labour is once again a safe space for Jews.”
Claudia Mendoza, the chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, which commissioned the 2019 Survation poll of Jewish voters, told the JC the new results were highly significant.
“The Labour Party has undergone significant changes since the previous leadership,” she said, pointing out that the party had carried out sweeping reforms to its disciplinary processes, as recommended by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in a damning 2020 report.
“The relationship between the community and the party is in a completely different place and it is unsurprising that many Jews feel able to return to the party they had previously supported.”
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