Net favourability gap between Conservatives and Labour smallest in nearly four years
Keir Starmer favourability, August 2025
Keir Starmer’s favourability ratings have remained largely static this month. Around a quarter of Britons (24%) have a positive opinion of the prime minister, while 68% see him unfavourably. This leaves the Labour leader with a net rating of -44, identical to his rating in July.
Nigel Farage favourability, August 2025
Attitudes towards Nigel Farage have been very stable in recent months, with his net rating consistently between -27 and -31 since the local elections in May. The latest figures show a third of Britons (32%) have a favourable opinion of the Reform UK leader, while six in ten (61%) see him unfavourably, giving a net rating in August of -29.
Kemi Badenoch favourability, August 2025
Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch’s ratings have also seen little month-on-month change, though the proportion of Britons with a favourable opinion of her have trended upwards from 16% in mid-May to 21% now. Nonetheless, most Britons (52%) still see the Conservative leader in a negative light, giving Badenoch a net favourability score of -31.
Ed Davey favourability, August 2025
Opinion towards Ed Davey has seen a small increase in positivity, with 30% of Britons having a favourable opinion of the Lib Dem leader, the highest level since July last year. This compares to a third of the public (33%) seeing Davey unfavourably, unchanged from last month and giving him a net favourability score of -3.
Jeremy Corbyn favourability, August 2025
After months of speculation, the launch of a new left-wing party co-led by Jeremy Corbyn has now been confirmed. Going into this new role, around a quarter of Britons (26%) have a positive view of the former Labour leader, while 61% see him unfavourably.
This gives Corbyn a net favourability score of -35, nine points better than that of Keir Starmer, his successor as Labour leader. Most of this difference is among Green voters, among whom Corbyn’s rating of +25 contrasts hugely with Starmer’s far weaker -58.
While the difference is not nearly as substantial, 2024 Labour voters do see Starmer a little more positively (+4 net rating) than Corbyn (-12).
One in seven Britons (14%) have a favourable opinion of Zarah Sultana, the former Labour MP who is expected to co-lead the new party /with Corbyn, while 26% of Britons have an unfavourable opinion of her.
Green party leadership favourability, August 2025
The Green Party of England and Wales are halfway through their leadership election, with current co-leader Carla Denyer stepping down, to be replaced by either a co-leadership of Ellie Chowns and current co-leader Adrian Ramsay or a single leadership of the ‘eco-populist’ Zack Polanski.
A key goal for the new leadership, especially considering the challenge from Corbyn and Sultana’s new left-wing party, will be increasing the profile of their leaders. At present, roughly eight in ten Britons (77-82%) say they have no opinion at all on current co-leaders Denyer and Ramsay, with similar rates true of Polanski (82%) and Chowns (86%).
Indeed, our recorded opinion on Chowns is near-identical to that of Andrew Farmer, a fake politician used to test how many respondents reflexively say they have an opinion of political figures. While 88% of the public have no view on Farmer, one in ten (10%) instinctively have an unfavourable view of him.
Even among Green voters, six in ten (61%) say they ‘don’t know’ how they feel about Denyer, rising to 74-76% with Polanski and Ramsay and 85% with Chowns.
Other senior political figures, August 2025
Numbers for senior cabinet ministers have seen little movement, remaining clearly negative. For the 21% of Britons who see Angela Rayner favourably, 53% see the deputy prime minister unfavourably, both figures unchanged from last month.
One in six Britons (16%) have a positive opinion of Rachel Reeves, while 63% see the chancellor unfavourably. Foreign secretary David Lammy attracts less negative feeling (44%), although this is more a product of being less well-known, with still only 14% of Britons having a good opinion of him.
Even among 2024 Labour voters, nearly half (45%) see Reeves unfavourably, relative to a third (34%) having a favourable opinion of the chancellor. Labour voters are split on Lammy, with 26% seeing him favourably and 32% unfavourably.
Conservative party favourability, August 2025
While still at the bottom of the pile, favourability towards the Conservative party has increased five points to 26% in the last month, while the number of Britons with an unfavourable view of the party has fallen from 69% to 65%. This gives the party a net score of -39, their highest since Liz Truss’ mini-budget in September 2022.
With Labour recording a similar net favourability score of -37, this means the favourability gap between the two parties is the lowest since September 2021, and a sharp fall from the 52 point gap in the aftermath of last year’s general election. Regardless, both trail Reform UK, whose net score stands at -24.
Favourability of Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Vladimir Putin and JD Vance in the UK, August 2025
Dominating the news recently has been the discussions over the future of the war in Ukraine, with Donald Trump meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Alaska last week and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday in an attempt to forge some form of peace deal to end the conflict.
Among the British public, Zelenskyy offers a marked contrast to the other key figures involved in the discussions. Two thirds of Britons (66%) have a favourable opinion of the Ukrainian president, while just 17% see him unfavourably. Even among 2024 Reform UK voters, the least positive group towards him, a majority (52%) see Zelenskyy positively.
This compares to only one in six Britons (17%) having a favourable opinion of Donald Trump, against 78% seeing him in a negative light. Reform UK voters are again the exception, with Trump holding a positive net score of +11 among this group, relative to -42 among Conservatives and between -81 and -90 among Labour, Lib Dem and Green voters.
Opinion on Vladimir Putin is even more one-sidedly negative, with 90% of Britons having an unfavourable opinion of the Russian leader.
US vice president JD Vance is also seen negatively by the British public, with 65% holding an unfavourable opinion of the ‘veep’, relative to just 10% seeing him favourably.
While he may have met key Conservative politicians during his recent holiday to the UK, just 12% of 2024 Conservatives have a positive view of the vice president, compared to 68% seeing him negatively. Reform UK voters are more positive, but are still split 35% favourable to 40% unfavourable in their opinion of Vance.
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