Ed Miliband may have endured a bruising week but University of Essex politics experts reckon he still has something to shout about ahead of tomorrow's county council elections.
The Labour leader tripped up when quizzed on his economic policies by BBC Radio 4 presenter Martha Kearney this week, repeatedly ducking questions on the effects of Labour's proposed VAT cut.
But academics at the university's National Policy Monitor found he is more popular than Nick Clegg and David Cameron in their latest monthly YouGov survey.
The study's 1,000 participants are asked to score the leaders along a scale from zero to 10, with a higher score indicating greater popularity.
Mr Miliband's rating stands at 3.75, having reached a high to 4.4 in October 2010, just after he was elected Labour leader.
Meanwhile, David Cameron, whose score stood at 5.1 in May 2010, now stands at 3.5, a drop of 31 per cent.
Nick clegg was scored at 3.04 in March 2013, down from 5.1 at the last general election
Professor Paul Whiteley, director of the National Policy Monitor, said the poll showed Ed Miliband's personal standing would have a more positive effect on the Labour vote than his rivals' would on their parties performances.
"The popularity of the party leaders plays a key role in influencing how people vote in elections in Britain," he said.
"The leader in front will do best, even though he may not be that popular.
"So Ed Miliband will do more to increase the Labour vote than David Cameron will the Conservative vote and Nick Clegg the Liberal Democrat vote.
This is not because the Labour leader is growing more popular over time, but because he is growing more popular relative to his rivals."
But the chart shows, though, that the differences between the leaders are not that great, and all three have lost ground since 2010.
