Favourability ratings for Farage, Reform competitive with other leading politicians and parties

A new Ipsos Political Pulse survey, taken between 13th and 17th December, reveals the latest favourability ratings for prominent political figures and parties.

Favourability toward politicians

• Nigel Farage: again holds the highest favourability rating among the listed politicians at 29% (+1); however, his unfavourables remain high (49%,+1), resulting in an unchanged net favourability score of -20.
• Keir Starmer: The current Prime Minister's favourability stands at 24% (+1 from November), while half (53%) of Britons express an unfavourable view (+1), leading to a net rating of -29.
• Kemi Badenoch: The Leader of the Opposition’s favourables have fallen a point to 20% and the percentage unfavourable has increased 6 points to 45%.
• Rachel Reeves: The Chancellor of the Exchequer holds a net favourability rating of -29, with 18% favourable (no change from November) and 47% unfavourable (-3ppts).

Favourability toward political parties

• Reform UK: again holds the highest favourability rating among the listed parties at 29%; however, their high unfavourable score puts them in the middle of the pack in terms of net favourability, with a score of -17.
• Labour: The Labour party’s net favourability is unchanged from November, giving them the second lowest of all parties listed with a score of -21.
• Conservatives: The Conservative party continues to have the lowest favourability rating, with a decrease of 9ppts compared to November bringing their net favourability to -34. This is due to both a decrease in their favourable score (-4ppts from November), as well as an increase in their unfavourable score (+5ppts from November).

Majority think things are going in the wrong direction:

• Nearly 3 in 5 (58%) think things in Britain are going in the wrong direction, compared to just 1 in 5 (18%) who think they’re going in the right direction
• 42% would assign the Government a score of 0-3 out of 10, with 20% giving them a score of 8-10.

Keiran Pedley, Director of UK Politics at Ipsos said:

As 2024 draws to a close it has undoubtedly been a successful year for the Labour Party, having won a landslide election win in July. However, their favourability ratings have fallen since then and with the Conservatives still unpopular there is an opportunity for Reform UK to take advantage. Whether they can do so – and broaden their appeal further – remains to be seen.

Notes to Editors:

• For media queries, please contact MacKenzie Horn at [email protected]  
• Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,137 adults aged 18+ across Great Britain. Interviews were conducted online between the 13th-17th December 2024. 
• Data are weighted to match the profile of the population. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error.