Keir Starmer would make a better Prime Minister than either Tory leadership candidate, the public believe.
Polling released today reveals that the Labour Party leader has a lead over both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak among voters.
On Monday the Conservatives will finally announce who the next Prime Minister will be after weeks of bitter blue-on-blue infighting.
Shamed Boris Johnson will leave office this week, but has repeatedly refused to dismiss reports he is plotting a comeback if things go wrong for his successor.
Ms Truss is the bookies' favourite to be the next to walk into No 10 after Tory Party members - who account for around 0.3% of the population - select their leader.
The new incumbent will have less than 1,000 days to make a good impression before the next General Election, and current figures do not make happy reading for the Conservatives.
A poll by Redfield & Wilton Strategies, on behalf of the i, found that 39% back Mr Starmer over Ms Truss, who was on 35%, while the rest were undecided.
Mr Sunak is furthest behind, with 38% of voters favouring the Labour leader when the two went head-to-head, with just 30% backing the former Chancellor.
There is plenty to play for, however, with hundreds of voters saying they did not know.
Ms Truss was well ahead among voters who were asked whether she or Mr Sunak would make a better PM, with 37% backing the Foreign Secretary and 30% supporting him.
The ballot of Tory party members is set to end at 5pm today, with the winner to be announced on Monday.
Mr Sunak's supporters are today putting a brave face on what is likely to be disappointing news at the start of next week.
Kevin Hollinrake, a supporter of the former chancellor and MP for Thirsk and Malton, told Sky News: "I've seen some of the polls and national polls. I think it's quite hard for pollsters to determine who is a Conservative member and who is not because there's not an open database.
"But I know who mine are. I polled my 700 members, 239 of them responded, so about a third of them responded, and Rishi got an eight-point lead.
"And I've seen similar kind of polls around different constituencies around the country. So I don't think he's cut and dried. I think he's probably neck and neck."
