Ed Miliband Is Now Less Popular Than Nick Clegg

    Public support for the Labour leader is now at an all-time low.

    Jim Waterson
    by Jim Waterson

    BuzzFeed News Reporter, UK

    Ed Miliband is now less popular than Nick Clegg and is one of the least popular Labour leaders on record, according to a new poll released today.

    Suzanne Plunkett / Reuters

    Just 13% of the public think Ed Miliband is ready to be prime minister, according to a poll of over 1,000 individuals by Ipsos Mori for the Evening Standard.

    Meanwhile, Miliband's personal leadership ratings are below those of Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and place him among the least popular Labour leaders ever.

    The poll, conducted during last week's mini leadership challenge, shows Labour's poll lead over the Conservatives as having completely gone.

    Ipsos Mori

    It's not good news for Miliband: Just 29% of the public say they intend to vote for Labour at the 2015 general election – exactly the same proportion of the vote Gordon Brown managed to win when he was Labour leader at the 2010 general election.

    Meanwhile, the Conservatives are three percentage points ahead on 32%, their best rating since the last general election. But they're not gaining support: They're merely losing it at a slower rate than Labour.

    Elsewhere, the Lib Dems are stubbornly stuck on 9%, while UKIP are on 14%. The Greens (not shown on this graph by Ipsos MORI) also polled 9%.

    Miliband's net satisfaction rating is at a record low of -44. That's even worse than Clegg.

    Clegg has spent four-and-a-half years in government, leads the unpopular Lib Dems and introduced tuition fees. Yet right now the public are more satisfied with his performance than that of Ed Miliband.

    Out of the people who responded to the poll, 65% of are unsatisfied with Miliband's performance as Labour leader, against just 21% who are happy.

    David Cameron's approval rating has stayed stubbornly high.

    Ipsos MORI

    The Conservatives are only narrowly ahead of Labour in the headline voting intention, but the prime minister still has by far the best approval rating of any of the major party leaders. People are more satisfied with his performance than with the Conservatives and the coalition government as a whole.

    Worryingly for Miliband, even Labour supporters are unhappy with his performance.

    Ipsos MORI

    Just 35% of Labour supporters are satisfied with Miliband's performance as leader of the party. This is a massive fall over the last six months, as the graph on the right shows.

    Ipsos Mori

    In June, 35% of the public agreed with the statement "Labour is ready to form the next government". The number saying Ed Miliband is ready to be prime minister has almost halved in the same five-month period.

    That said, the same poll found people are becoming slightly more pessimistic about the state of the economy.

    Ipsos Mori

    Economic pessimism could actually help Labour. It undermines the argument that the Conservatives have saved the economy.

    But overall it's not good news for Labour, who appear to have been hit hard by a week of speculation over Miliband's suitability to lead the party.