The online poll of 1.034 Londoners gives Khan 45% of the first round vote, Goldsmith 36%, Caroline Pidgeon (Lib Dem) and Sian Berry (Green) tied on 6%, Peter Whittle (UKIP) 4% and George Galloway (Respect) on 1%.
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Issues such as the high cost of housing and air pollution have featured prominently in the campaign, but Khan has also been attacked by Goldsmith and other high-ranking Conservatives for sharing public platforms in the past with Islamic extremists.
Mark Garnett, an expert on British Politics at Lancaster University, said Tuesday that a win by Khan in London would do little to reinforce Corbyn since the capital is seen as a Labor stronghold anyway, and a good result for the party would not necessarily boost its leader.
His main rival, environmentalist Zac Goldsmith, cast his ballot in the posh Richmond neighborhood west of the city center.
In the contest to replace the charismatic Boris Johnson in charge of the British capital, polls put Labour candidate Khan comfortably ahead of his Conservative rival as they enter the final straight.
Corbyn said during the House of Commons exchange: “I would like to invite him to think for a moment about the conduct of his party and his candidate in the London Mayoral elections, the way in which they’re systematically smearing my friend”. No, I said being a professional person, I have a habit of matching CVs with job specifications, and Sadiq Khan’s CV matches exactly with what job is required to be done as a mayor of London.
Khan was quick to condemn the comments and on Tuesday told reporters in his final stump speech of the campaign at a venue overlooking the River Thames: “I’ve had lots of people contact me from the Jewish faith sending me their support”. His lead lengthened once second preference votes were taken into account, to 57 per cent against Goldsmith’s 43 per cent.
A poll released on Tuesday found Mr Goldsmith lagging nine points behind Labour’s Sadiq Khan, but Mr Cameron joked that he “could tell you a thing or two” about polls following last year’s general election success.
“You don’t need to know everything about Labour’s candidate, you just need to know one fact”, said Cameron.
Khan regularly recalls how his father drove London’s famous red buses, his mother was a seamstress and one of his brothers is a motor mechanic.
I don’t want to hear every news bulletin telling me that a Muslim has been elected as Mayor of London.
“The reason why I’m running to be mayor is there are too many Londoners who don’t get the helping hand that I received”.
“Which is why I can say with surety that if he wins on Thursday there will be no change on housing in London”.
“My London plan will ensure half the new homes are genuinely affordable”, Khan said.
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The Tooting MP will warn that the Bill’s plans would mean the forced sell off of family-sized council homes – potentially to overseas investors and buy-to-let landlords.
