Farage’s approval nosedives to lowest ever

Nigel Farage has been on something of a journey over the past few decades. To begin with, he was widely perceived as a joke — one which the BBC couldn’t stop telling. Even after Farage was successful in pushing the public towards Brexit, he wasn’t able to convert that momentum into electoral success. Since 2024, however, things have changed.

The public now see the Tories and Labour as two sides of the same coin, and they want an alternative. Given the media attention he’s received, many decided that Farage was the alternative in waiting, if only because he was the only outsider politician they were aware of.

Since then, however, Farage has squandered much of that energy by inviting Tories into his party. Now, Farage and Reform’s polling are starting to reflect this:

Approval

Of course, leader approval ratings aren’t the best indicator of how well a party might do. Voters largely didn’t like Jeremy Corbyn at the beginning of the 2017 election, but when they saw what Labour were offering compared to the Tories, he managed to close the gap. As Ed Sykes reported for the Canary in 2017:

But while his critics talked him down, Corbyn himself was out campaigning. And it turned out, as the table suggests, that the more voters actually got to see him free of the distorting prism of a hostile media, the more they liked him.

In the end, Corbyn’s Labour gained 30 seats, reversed decades of Labour decline, and won the biggest increase in the party’s share of the vote since 1945. And the evidence suggests that Labour did well because of Corbyn – and in spite of his critics. That’s something they would do well to remember whenever the next election is called.

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As Sykes notes, the media face increased restrictions during an election. This benefitted Corbyn and Labour in 2017: the question is will it benefit Reform?

Perhaps not, because Reform have struggled to land on a coherent message when it comes to policy and candidates.

They claim to be a party of everyday people, and yet they’re running candidates who want to dismantle the NHS.

They claim to be anti-waste, and yet one Reform council spent tens of thousands of pounds on unnecessary flags.

They began as an alternative to the Tories, and yet they’re stuffed full of — you guessed it — Tories.

Reform are already struggling to answer these questions, and things will only get worse in a general election:

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"If the Tories are so bad, why is Reform UK filling themselves full of them?"

Laila Cunningham: I can't answer that. pic.twitter.com/fxdPli1XKY

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— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) January 10, 2026

As we’ve reported, it’s already getting pretty bad in the local election campaign — especially when it comes to candidate selection:

• Reform activist said ‘Hitler was right’.
• Scottish Reform nosedive following candidate chaos.
• Reform welcomes ‘shoot the p*kis’ scandal ex-Tory.
• Reform UK accused of ‘nil vetting’ as another racist candidate exposed.
• Farage heckled at Reform’s Jimmy Saville-aping London launch.

Farage — Bad to worse

As London Economic have reported, three polls this week showed that Reform have slumped from their 2025 highs of 30%:

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Westminster Voting Intention (Prompts for Restore):

RFM: 21% (-4)
CON: 18% (+2)
GRN: 18% (-1)
LAB: 17% (+1)
LDM: 11% (+1)
RES: 9% (+1)
SNP: 3% (=)

Via @FindoutnowUK, 15-16 Apr.
Changes w/ 25 Mar.

— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) April 16, 2026

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Regarding the above, London Economic said:

a poll from Find Out Now also found a four-point drop for Farage’s gang. Whilst this one didn’t show any significant boost for Labour, the kicker here was further down, where Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain were on 9%. This gives credence to the idea Restore could leech support from Reform, opening the door for Labour, the Tories and the Greens.

This certainly could be how things shake out. The other option would be that Restore Britain stand down for Reform UK like how Farage’s Brexit Party stood down for the Tories in 2019.

It’s hard to tell which might happen, because the politicians drawn to Restore are the ones who are too right-wing and anti-social for Reform. In other words, they may be incapable of backing down, even if doing so would secure an electoral victory for the British far right.

Back to what’s causing Reform’s decline, it doesn’t help that people are becoming increasingly aware of who funds Farage and Reform:

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EXCLUSIVE: Reform chief Nigel Farage's half a million pounds from foreign sources since becoming MP

Of Farage’s 28 benefactors, 20 are based abroad – or 71%https://t.co/zvye6Pk8I8

— dave lawrence (@dave43law) April 18, 2026

This isn’t a good look for a supposedly patriotic nationalist, is it?

There are also outside forces dragging down Farage’s reputation — among them the unpopularity of Donald Trump and the fall of global allies like Viktor Orban:

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A combination of a Badenoch comeback and the Trump impact on Farage

This coupled with people hearing Reform policy and the unfunded chaos based on fantasy data it always is. https://t.co/5wNBANlItL

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— dave lawrence (@dave43law) April 18, 2026

What goes up

For a while, it seemed like Reform could have risen to the same 40% highs that Labour and the Tories achieved in the past. Thankfully, it looks like 30% was the ceiling. Even more thankfully, it seems like a sizeable proportion of that 30% simply supported an alternative to the status quo — not Reform specifically.

Given Reform’s many contradictions, it seems like they’ll struggle to do anything besides bleed support at this point. We just hope they lose as much as possible before the local elections to limit how much damage they can cause.

For an idea of what Reform councils look like in practice, please read the following:

• Reform councillor reposts that Labour MP ‘should be shot’.
• Reform councillor dramatically quits over council tax betrayal.
• What a surprise – Reform councillor attends just one meeting and sends two emails in six months.
• Reform councillor fined £40,000 for hiring ‘illegal’ workers.
• Reform councillor would like to see wage cuts to fund his pay rise.

Featured image via Opinium

By Willem Moore

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