Even some who are publicly supporting the shadow business secretary for the Labour leadership have their doubts, says Beth Rigby.
And the decision for the 500,000 or so Labour Party members over the next 11 weeks is the extent to which they want stick to the status quo of Corbynism via his protege Ms Long-Bailey or shift to Sir Keir, who is pitching himself as an oven-ready leader who will marry the best bits of Corbynism with electability.
But a different poll of members of the website LabourList this week put the shadow business secretary ahead of her opponents with 42% of first preference votes, against 37% for Sir Keir. Next week she should get the formal support of the powerful Unite union, led by Len McCluskey, another key Corbyn ally who helped the outgoing leader to the top of the party and keep him there.
As one senior Labour figure in the Corbyn camp told me last week, Ms Long-Bailey is the only candidate that will truly"advance the socialist cause".But her anointment as the candidate of the left has not been a straight coronation, and there remains unease among some that she'll struggle to carry the Corbyn mantle - manifesting in the aborted leadership run of chairman Ian Lavery.
Sir Keir, meanwhile, is pitching himself as the candidate who can, promising to"rebuild" the party and"be in a position to win an election so that change can actually happen".
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