Jeremy Corbyn is more popular with voters than Ed Miliband was at the same stage in his leadership, according to poll.
A quarter of the public believe the radical left-winger is turning out to be a good leader of the Labour Party compared with 17% for his predecessor in the months after he was elected, according to the study.
Labour has also gone up two points to 29% in the monthly ComRes poll for The Independent on Sunday and Sunday Mirror while the Conservatives have dropped two, although they are still significantly out ahead on 40%.
More than half of Labour voters (56%) are pleased with Mr Corbyn's performance while just 25% believe shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn, who was widely lauded for a bravura Commons speech backing military action against Islamic State in Syria, would make a good replacement, rising to 42% among Conservative voters.
Some 40% of voters believe Mr Corbyn offers a positive difference from other politicians while 37% think he is being treated unfairly by the media, the polling found.
:: ComRes interviewed 2,049 British adults online between December 9 and 11 and the data was weighted.
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