POLL: CORBYN IS ‘LIKE STEPTOE’
THERESA MAY is Helen Mirren in The Queen, sitting behind the wheel of a Jaguar – with ‘Steptoe’ Jeremy Corbyn rattling along behind in a Robin Reliant. At least that is how voters in the UK see the two leaders, who stepped up a gear in the election campaign yesterday. If Mr Corbyn pulls off a shock by driving Labour to victory on June 8, two-fifths of voters will feel like emigrating. By contrast, a May coronation will be widely celebrated. To rub it in, the Prime Minister is seen as a ‘labrador’ dog, known as friendly and reliable, while Mr Corbyn is seen as a scruffy ‘stray’.
Lib Dem leader Tim Farron, meanwhile, is a ‘poodle’ in a Ford Fiesta. The responses to light-hearted questions in a Survation poll underline the sharply different images of the respective party leaders. And they are mirrored by the way Ms May is streets ahead of her Labour rival when their fitness for high office is assessed.
She beats Mr Corbyn by a huge margin as best to negotiate Brexit, deal with an international crisis and manage the economy.
The poll invited voters to say which of four characters Ms May reminded them of: Ms Mirren’s Queen Elizabeth, Penelope Keith’s Margo in To The Manor Born, Patricia Routledge’s Hyacinth in Keeping Up Appearances, and Cruella de Vil in Walt Disney’s 101 Dalmatians. The options for Mr Corbyn were rag-and-bone man Albert Steptoe in Steptoe and Son; Uncle Albert in Only Fools And Horses; Sergeant Wilson in Dad’s Army, and Inspector Morse, as played by John Thaw.
Ms May was first choice when asked who voters would want to ‘babysit their child’. Mr Corbyn was first choice to ‘go to the pub with’ and to ‘help fix a broken tap’. But Ms May did not fare as well on some of the more serious questions. Asked if her U-turn on calling a snap election had made them think worse of her, 36% said yes, against 21% who said it had improved her standing.
Nothing sums up Mr Corbyn’s public standing more than the response to the question: ‘How will you feel if you wake up on June 8 and see victorious PM Corbyn?’
A total of 41% of those polled said that they would ‘feel like emigrating’.
Corbyn viewed as a ‘scruffy stray’