Yahoo News Analysis: Labour's credibility issues mean election victory is unlikely despite polling surge
Theresa May will go into June's general election as the most popular pre-election Prime Minister in modern times according to polling.
While Labour appear to be closing the gap on the Conservatives when it comes to voting intention, their leadership credibility scores are still very poor. This could be crucial come June 8.
The same YouGov poll that put Labour within five points of the Conservatives on Friday also asked respondents how much they trusted Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May to deal with terrorism.
Theresa May is more trusted on terrorism than Corbyn
Just 33 per cent of respondents said they'd trust Corbyn to keep Britain safe from terrorism, while 55 per cent said they trusted Theresa May.
This disparity in leadership credibility between the two is a wider one. Ipsos Mori have regularly measured the job satisfaction levels of Prime Ministers and main opposition leaders for the past 40 years, taking in nine general elections.
Each survey asks respondents whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied with the job that the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition are doing. The net satisfaction score is calculated by subtracting the number of people who are dissatisfied from those that are satisfied.
Theresa May is most popular pre-election PM in modern times
Theresa May's net leadership satisfaction score was +20 in this month's poll, the last before the general election on June 8.
This makes her easily the most popular modern Prime Minister in the month before a general election, eclipsing Margaret Thatcher's net score of +9 in 1983.
May actually has a higher satisfaction level than any main opposition leader in modern times as well, but when her dissatisfaction score is factored in she falls below Tony Blair's score of +22 in 1997.
May is trouncing Corbyn when it comes to leadership ratings
Jeremy Corbyn, meanwhile, has a net satisfaction score of -27, making him the least popular Labour leader for 30 years.
While voting intention is obviously a more important metric when it comes to predicting the outcome of an election, leader popularity or satisfaction is also a significant predictor.
The less popular leader going into the election has only triumphed on one of the nine occasions for which Ipsos has figures - Tony Blair in 2005.
Key articles | General Election 2017
And it isn't just Theresa May that the public rates as a leader. The Conservative leadership team as a whole received a record score in the latest Ipsos poll for their suitability to deal with the issues facing the UK.
Asked which party had the best leadership team to deal with these issues, 53 per cent of respondents picked the Conservatives - the highest score for any party since 1997.
Labour, meanwhile, drew level with their lowest score on record with just 21 per cent of the public feeling that they have the best leadership team.
