Almost a third of Londoners would be uncomfortable with a Muslim mayor, a survey has found.
The YouGov poll for LBC found that 31% of people in the city would be uncomfortable with a Muslim taking the highest directly elected office in Britain.
Labour's Sadiq Khan and Conservative Sayeed Kamall are both Muslims standing to be elected London Mayor in 2016.
![](https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/5d019bdd210000a718eb126a.jpeg?ops=scalefit_720_noupscale)
Sadiq Khan is one of the most prominent candidates of the mayoral race and a Muslim
The poll results were published ahead of an LBC debate at 7pm on Thursday, featuring candidates vying to succeed Boris Johnson.
YouGov President Peter Kellner told LBC: "There's a very clear age gap here. If you ask people in their 20s, around two thirds are comfortable and only around 20% less comfortable.
" If you look at the over 60s, then more of them are uncomfortable than comfortable.
"So there is the problem for a Muslim candidate amongst older voters, but much less of a problem for younger voters."
In July, Mr Khan said that electing a Muslim mayor would "send a message to the rest of the world.”
He told the Guardian: "If Londoners decided to do that, the message it would send to the rest of the world would be quite awesome.”
“The reality is that we are a beacon in all sorts of ways. I think it’s just worth thinking about the impact it could have. It shows the confidence of Londoners – that we don’t simply tolerate but respect each other."
SEE ALSO:
A Huffington Post UK poll, published to coincide with the 10th anniversary of 7/7, found more people regard Islam as a threat to the country than at the time of the attacks.
The poll for LBC also asked if people would comfortable with a gay mayor and found 71% would be, while 16% would be uncomfortable.
Dame Tessa Jowell was the preferred candidate of 42% of polled Labour supporters, with Mr Khan in second place on 21%.
Zac Goldsmith is building a big early lead to be the Conservative candidate but those polled said they would vote for Dame Tessa over him in a fight between them by 53% to 47%.