Labour activists back Alan Johnson to be Labour leader were Gordon Brown to stand down, according to a survey of Labour Party activists.
He was backed by 32% of Labour councillors, in the survey, with Jon Cruddas in second place (18%) and 12% of councillors backing David Miliband.
But the majority of those councillors surveyed thought that replacing Gordon Brown before the next election would either make the party's electoral prospects worse (25%) or make no difference (36%).
The survey was conducted for BBC2's Daily Politics programme by ComRes who interviewed 321 Labour councillors in England and Wales by online surveys between September 2 and 24.
It also found the majority of Labour Party activists (53%) believe the recent expenses scandal will harm their electoral prospects, compared with 36% who think it will not.
Just less than a third (31%) of those councillors surveyed felt the Labour Party's prospects would improve if they changed their leader.
Full Results:
Q1. Do you think your party's role in the MPs expenses scandal has damaged you locally in terms of your MPs' or candidates' chances of being elected?
Yes 53% No 36% Don't know 11%
Q2. If Labour were to change leader before the next election what if anything do you think it would mean for the party's electoral prospects?
Improve 31% Stay the same 36% Get worse 25% Don't know 7%
Q3. If Gordon Brown were to stand down as Labour leader who would you prefer to take over?
Andy Burnham 2% Jon Cruddas 18% Harriet Harman 5% Alan Johnson 32% David Miliband 12% James Purnell 1% Jack Straw 2% Hazel Blears 0% Tony Blair 2% None of these 15% Don't know 10%
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Bookmark with:
What are these?