Who voted for Corbyn

Who voted for Corbyn

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YouGov have analysed Jeremy Corbyn’s victory and they’ve found the following

Around 70,000 people who voted in the leadership election did NOT vote Labour in May’s general election. 40,000 of them voted Green. Fully 92% of these Green voters backed Mr Corbyn. We estimate that the other non-Labour voters were: Liberal Democrats: 10,000; Conservatives: 3,000; Ukip: 3,000; other parties 6,000; did not vote 8,000. It is, of course, a matter of debate how many of these are genuine converts, and how many infiltrated the election for more cynical purposes. But the numbers are far larger than the 4,000 or so whom the party has reported excluding as infiltrators.

However, if we count only the 350,000 who voted Labour in May, Mr Corbyn would still have won 54% of the vote - enough to have given him a big victory on the first count.

The one group noticeably less keen on Mr Corbyn were long-standing Labour Party members. Only 44% of those who have been members since before Ed Miliband became leader in 2010 gave their first preference to Labour’s new leader. Had only they voted in the leadership election, it is touch-and-go whether Mr Corbyn would have won at all. However, pre-2010 party members comprised only one-quarter of the selectorate. 

Looking at this it would appear that under Ed Miliband’s leadership the Labour party membership became more left wing which helped Jeremy Corbyn achieve victory. That may well be Ed Miliband’s greatest legacy to the Labour party and politics in this country.

TSE

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