NICOLA Sturgeon is more popular than Kezia Dugdale even among voters who plan to back Labour at the next Holyrood election, a new poll has suggested.

The TNS survey, which was largely carried out before the new Scottish Labour leader made her headline-grabbing pledge to restore cuts to tax credits, revealed that almost half of voters polled did not know who Ms Dugdale is.

Among those who plan to back Labour in the constituency vote next May, 32 per cent indicated that they 'liked' SNP leader Ms Sturgeon. For Ms Dugdale, the total fell to just a quarter among those planning to vote Labour, with nearly four in ten of her party's supporters saying they had not heard of her.

Ms Sturgeon was by far the most liked of the politicians voters were asked about, proving popular amongst 44 per cent of the sample and unpopular with a quarter. Ms Dugdale was liked by just seven per cent of the overall sample and disliked by 23 per cent.

The poll also revealed a commanding lead for the SNP with six months to go until the election, with the party on course to win another commanding majority and claim all but one constituency seat. It would leave its opponents reliant on claiming seats through regional lists, which are allocated through a system of proportional representation.

Tom Costley, head of TNS Scotland, said that Labour had a "mountain to climb" with its leadership so far failing to achieve recognition and appeal among voters.

He added: "Sturgeon has established herself as a popular figure across the political spectrum. When we asked the same question about political figures two years ago, during the referendum campaign, her predecessor Alex Salmond was liked by 28 per cent of respondents. She herself was liked by 22 per cent, though she was still emerging from Salmond’s shadow at that time.

"One crumb of comfort for Labour may be that, asked the same question two years ago, the then Labour leader Johann Lamont was liked by seven per cent of electors and 41 per cent did not know who she was – these are similar figures to Dugdale’s but Lamont had been Scottish Labour leader for about two years by then, while Dugdale is just starting out."

Mr Costley added that perhaps more surprising than Ms Dugdale's low recognition was the finding that 30 per cent of voters did not know who Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, is despite her high profile during the referendum campaign.

The poll, of more than 1,000 voters aged 16 and over, showed that more than one in five have not heard of Jeremy Corbyn, despite the MPs ascent to the UK Labour leadership dominating the headlines for months. Two per cent said they had never heard of Prime Minister David Cameron while five per cent claimed not to have heard of Ms Sturgeon.

In the constituency vote, 58 per cent are planning to vote SNP, compared to 24 per cent for Labour, 12 per cent for the Tories and four per cent for the Liberal Democrats, according to the poll. It showed support of 52 per cent for the SNP on the regional list, compared to 25 per cent for Labour, 11 per cent for the Conservatives, and five per cent for both the LibDems and the Greens.

The SNP's Derek Mackay said the poll showed the people of Scotland were continuing to back his party's "positive, progressive vision for Scotland’s future".

A Scottish Labour spokesman said: "We are in no doubt that regaining the trust and confidence of the Scottish people will take time but we are confident that with fresh leadership and a focus on cutting the gap between the richest and the rest we can be the party that people in Scotland put their faith in again."