Burnham’s popularity with members drops, but still over 50% approve – poll

Andy Burnham’s approval among Labour members has dropped again, LabourList’s latest exclusive polling has found.

While the Greater Manchester mayor still remains a highly respected figure in the party, his net popularity has dropped to +54 – a decline of 15 points from September.

The poll, carried out by Survation, found that 46% of members have a very favourable view of Burnham, and a further 30% hold a somewhat favourable view.

Burnham was among the top Labour figures to endorse Lucy Powell in this year’s deputy leadership election, and his popularity among her voters remains sky high.

He boasts a +81 net approval rating from members who backed Powell, whereas his support among Bridget Phillipson’s supporters sat at close to single digits at +10.

Burnham’s popularity was also strongest among Labour members who had backed Rebecca Long-Bailey in the 2020 leadership election, with whom he has a near-universal +93 net positive rating.

He proved least popular with those who supported Lisa Nandy in the same election, albeit still with a net positive of +28. Keir Starmer’s 2020 supporters yielded a +46 rating for Burnham.

READ MORE: Starmer would lose leadership contest to Streeting, Rayner, Burnham and Miliband

It comes as Burnham’s name continues to be floated as a possible replacement for Keir Starmer as Labour leader and Prime Minister in the event of a leadership challenge – although he would have to find a seat in Parliament through a by-election before he could stand as a candidate.

Ahead of Labour Party conference this autumn, Burnham was vocally critical of the Prime Minister, which was widely seen as a thinly-veiled attempt to position himself as a leadership frontrunner.

In a hypothetical head-to-head contest between Keir Starmer and Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor would win with 58% of the vote to 32% – the widest margin of any likely contender polled.

However, an NEC member has claimed that Burnham would face the prospect of not being shortlisted for any potential by-election for a return to Parliament on gender balance grounds.

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The poll is the latest in a series of regular polls LabourList is publishing in partnership with leading pollsters Survation, a member of the British Polling Council and a Market Research Society Partner.

Survation surveyed 1,013 readers of LabourList, the leading dedicated newsletter and news and comment website for Labour supporters, who also said they were Labour Party members between November 18 and 20.

Data was weighted to the profile of party members by age, sex, region, 2020 Labour leadership vote and 2025 deputy leadership vote. Targets for weighting were drawn from the British Election Study and the results of the leadership and deputy leadership election.

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