YouGov asked respondents what they think of Nigel Farage; the result was a long list of insults - none of which we disagree with

Nigel Farage of Reform UK and polling showing what people think of him

New polling from YouGov has given us an idea of what regular voters think of Nigel Farage. If you’ve been paying attention to the man’s recent scandals, you probably won’t be surprised by any of this:

Ahead of Reform UK’s party conference, we asked Britons to describe Nigel Farage in three words

71% used at least one negative term, with the most common being “racist” and “liar”

27% used at least one positive term, with the most common being “patriotic” and “honest” pic.twitter.com/RfJ8HZoUHs

— YouGov (@YouGov) September 1, 2026

Backwards

YouGov conducted the above polling around Farage and Reform between 20 and 21 August, asking 2,087 people (about twice as many people as you need for a poll to be statistically sound).

One of the key takeaways from the poll is that support for Reform UK has “fallen over the last year”. This is demonstrable across the board, as you can see in Politico’s Poll of Polls (an aggregate of all the other pollsters):

Politico Poll of Polls

YouGov added:

Reform UK are kicking off party conference season this year, though are likely to be in a slightly less jubilant mood than they were this time last year. Although the party managed to make further gains in the devolved and local elections this May, the party has since become bogged down in controversies over donations to Nigel Farage, has faced competition on its right from Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain, and has lost its lead in voting intention polls since Andy Burnham took office.

Indeed, in hindsight, last September was the peak of the Reform surge, with the proportion of Britons willing to consider voting for the party gradually falling by six points over the last year (to 24%) and the proportion giving the party as their main voting intention down by five points (to 16%). On both measures, support for Reform has now returned to roughly the level it was before the 2025 council elections.

‘Racist, Liar, Fraud’

Farage-specific findings from the poll include the following:

  • Farage’s popularity has dropped from -27 to -44 over the past 12 months.
  • Belief he’s performing well as the Reform leader has dropped from +18 to -33.
  • The percentage of Britons who see him as a prime minister in waiting has dropped from 25% to 19%.
  • 66% of the public don’t think he’ll ever be PM, and this includes 27% of Reform voters.
  • More voters think Kemi Badenoch could be PM (26% compared to 19%).

‘Racist, Liar, Fraud’. All accurate about Farage.

When asked what three words they’d use to describe Farage, respondents answered in their own words. The list of descriptors generated from this included the following:

  • Racist
  • Liar
  • Insults
  • Corrupt/Crook/Criminal
  • Dishonest/False/Deceitful
  • Evil/Cruel/Mean/Nasty/Vile/Disgusting
  • Untrustworthy/Unreliable
  • Arrogant/Pompous
  • Dangerous/Mad
  • Self-serving/Greedy
  • Fraud/Fake/Charlatan
  • Idiot/Buffoon/Clown
  • Sleazy/Dodgy/Slimy/Creepy
  • Conman/Grifter
  • Divisive/Controversial
  • Fascist/Extremist/Nazi
  • Bigot/Bigoted
  • Elite/Establishment/Posh/Rich
  • Manipulative/Sly/Cunning
  • Narcissist/Narcissistic/Self-centred/Egotistical
  • Rude/Brash/Loud/Unpleasant
  • Unlikeable/Hateful
  • Opportunist/Chancer
  • Sexist/Misogynist
  • Smug/Smarmy
  • Stupid/Ignorant
  • Useless/Incompetent/Incapable
  • Populist
  • Angry/Thin-skinned
  • Annoying/Irritating
  • Attention seeker
  • Deluded/Unrealistic
  • Embarrassing
  • Hypocrite
  • Like the rest
  • Odd/Weird/Strange
  • Other form of discriminator
  • Out of touch/Outdated
  • Sad/Pathetic/Loser/Coward
  • Traitor/Puppet
  • Waste of space/time
  • Other Negative

We’re going to go out on a limb and predict that “other negative” is a polite way of saying several people called him a “cunt”.

As you’d expect, Reform voters were more favourable towards Farage; Conservative voters were mixed, and everyone else hated the ‘other negative’:

Farage polling

Respondents also had a mostly negative view of Reform:

Farage: division

Farage and Reform have done well when it comes to building themselves a solid base of support. The problem they have is that while their supporters love them, their detractors hate them, and they have more detractors than supporters:

NEW: Before Reform suspended Tim Montgomerie, he warned that the party’s “number one problem” is tactical voting against it.

Our new research shows the scale of that problem: 43% of the British public say they’d be unhappy with a Reform government, compared with 36% who’d be…

— HOPE not hate (@hopenothate) August 27, 2026

This situation has made the party vulnerable to the sort of tactical voting which cost them the recent by-elections in Gorton & Denton, Makerfield, and Caerphilly. And if anything, this negative polarisation only seems to be getting worse for the far-right party.

Featured image via Getty

By Willem Moore

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