Four out of ten Britons still don’t know who Andy Burnham is, poll shows

The scale of the task facing Andy Burnham when he becomes prime minister on Monday is highlighted by a new poll: 18 million Britons cannot identify him.

Nearly four in 10 voters (38 percent) asked in a survey to name a photo of their face cannot do so.

Curiously, one JL Partners survey participant Independent He confused Mr Burnham with quiz show host and author Richard Osman.

They both share dark hair and bushy eyebrows and were both born in 1970. But the similarity ends there; Standing at 6′ 7″ tall, Osman towers over the Labor MP’s 5′ 10″ height.

Perhaps more flatteringly, one survey respondent identified Mr. Burnham as Hollywood actor Mel Gibson, while another thought he was Amazon boss Jeff Bezos.

Some voters may struggle to tell the difference if Mr Burnham replaces Sir Keir Starmer in No 10, the poll suggests: a handful of people mistakenly identified Burnham as Starmer.

Six in ten people (62%) were able to identify Mr Burnham’s name from a photograph of him. The British electorate of around 48 million shows that while around 30 million people know who he is, 18 million do not.

JL Partners’ James Johnson says the results point to a significant opportunity for the new Prime Minister because he is a “blank slate” for many people.

But they also posed a “danger” to Mr Burnham and his Labor supporters, who were counting on their new leader’s personal popularity to boost the party’s dismal position in opinion polls.

Mr Johnson says the poll shows many voters have no idea who Burnham is or what she stands for. Labor and Burnham’s ratings can quickly change for better or worse, they are about to find out now.

Other leading Labor figures who will have key roles in Burnham’s cabinet fare no better in the identity parade-style political poll.

Less than half of voters (45 percent) can recognize former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner. Many people confused her with Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Someone confused her with the late singer Amy Winehouse; another thought she was former Tory prime minister Liz Truss.

Ed Miliband, who is said to be aiming to become Burnham’s chancellor, has a more complex image problem.

While 43 percent recognized him correctly, a significant portion confused him with his older brother David, who is considered a candidate for secretary of state.

Two respondents referred to Ed Miliband simply as ‘the bacon man’; this refers to a well-known photo of him clumsily eating a pastrami sandwich on the campaign trail a few years ago.

One survey respondent identified him only as ‘Wallace’; this was thought to be a reference to the Wallace and Gromit cartoon character.

Strangest of all, a large swath of voters mistakenly think that Left winger Ed Miliband is actually former Conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak.

Wes Streeting, the outspoken former health secretary who is on Labour’s right wing and forced Starmer to resign, is known by just over a third of voters (37 per cent).

One person mistakenly named Mr Streeting as actor Ryan Gosling, while another mistook him for Reform leader Nigel Farage.

Just over one in four (27 per cent) were able to identify home secretary Shabana Mahmood, with some mistaking her for Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.

Al Carns, the ambitious ex-army officer and former defense minister who is the latest to withdraw from the Labor leadership contest, is known to just one in 20 (six per cent) of voters. One poll taker thought Carns was a character from Emmerdale.

Mr Johnson said the poll’s results were “a reality check for those in Westminster who think the public are following everything as closely as they are”.

“It also says that much of Burnham’s brand is undefined because millions don’t yet know who she is.”

Mr Johnson says the poll result points to an opportunity for Mr Burnham, ‘because he is the definition of a blank slate: his first speech to Downing Street will be his first meeting with tens of millions of Britons.’

But it also represented a ‘danger’ for him and should serve as a ‘warning’ to Labor supporters who expected the Party’s poor standing in the opinion polls to improve thanks to Burnham’s own ‘favorable personal ratings’.

Mr Johnson said: “Things can change quickly when it comes to the public’s view of a politician, and doubly so when many people don’t even know who Burnham is.

“His current personal ratings may look good in most polls, but as he introduces himself in the coming weeks to voters who have little idea of ​​Burnham the man or Burnham the politician, those ratings will be more malleable than ever.”

A total of 1,500 adults in the UK took part in JL Partners’ online survey between 4-6 July.