One of the interesting things about the polls is that for all Labour's incompetence, the Lib Dems are also totally failing at gaining any traction. I remember lots of talk of expecting the Lib Dems to pick up lots of central voters due to their anti-Brexit and general central stance. But they're just as irrelevant as they were at the last general election, which shows right now it's not as easy for Labour as "sit in the centre and hope people hate the Torys enough to vote for you". Labour is crying out for a charismatic leader who can unite the party and connect with the public,our own version of Obama.
It is an interesting situation with the LibDems, but I think it's more complex for them. By going into coalition with the Tories, they are rightly seen as quislings and thus no alternative for a voter keen on a progressive left choice. After all, they proved that if you vote LibDem, you get a Tory government.
This is the issue with Labour's future: once a party establishes a certain perception, it hangs round the neck for a generation or more. May was right when she told the Tories they were seen as the 'nasty' party and Blair's government would continue to annihilate them until they found a way to avoid the label. In the event, the world recession allowed them to use the 'nasty' label as somewhat of an advantage as people fell for the austerity agenda, and "Call Me Dave" cynically put a bit of a spin on to cement the 2010 election by a hair's breadth.
Labour has struggled for generations to break free of the 'incompetent' party with its heart in the right place but unable to manage the economy (specifically) without everything going badly titsup. The world recession broke the one time the party had built up a very strong competence record, and then the party itself took gleeful sabotage of that record as its new article of faith. Even more astonishingly, we then guaranteed the label of incompetent fuckwits by electing Corbyn and his gang of chancers to lead. Had we elected David Miliband as leader (instead of his brother) stood by our New Labour record of social justice and excellent economic progress, and rammed home the fact that the recession was not caused by Gordon Brown but mad bankers, I firmly believe we would have won in 2015 and none of the current nightmare would be unfolding. But no, we just had to indulge ourselves and prove again we can't run a fucking bath, let alone a political party.
In my view, that will never be forgotten by the electorate, just as the LibDems have condemned themselves to complete irrelevance by that one, idiot decision to be Tory-lites.
But comrades, let us not be downhearted! Diane Abbot is confident Labour is going to win a snap election. Because reasons.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/diane-abbott-interview-labour-party-jeremy-corbyn-general-election-a7635706.html