‘It’s not Labour or the Conservatives’ is the number one reason Britons are considering voting Reform, eye-opening polling has revealed.
The research, conducted by respected pollsters YouGov, delivered a blow to Nigel Farage as his leadership of the party came tenth in the list of reason Brits are considering the populist party.
This suggests that if Reform replaced Farage (as Elon Musk has called for) it wouldn’t really matter, despite him being one of the most followed politicians in Britain and of celebrity status.
‘Policies on immigration’ came a close second behind ‘not being Labour or the Tories’, while ‘honesty/common sense’ came fourth and ‘represent average/working Britons’ came fifth in the list of factors why people might vote Reform.
People considering voting Reform – reasons
Reasons people are considering voting for Reform
YouGov
The research also showed the main concerns Brits who were considering voting for Reform have.
It revealed most Reform-curious people have no reservations about voting Farage. ‘Lack of experience governing’ came in second place while ‘I might waste my vote’ came in third.
This is a major problem for Reform, well documented by Nigel Farage who has railed against Westminster’s First Past The Post system for years.
Reform suffers from not having concentrated support in seats to win ‘winner takes all’ style Westminster elections. Instead it has a broad base across the nation.
For example, at the last election Labour received 9,708,716 votes, winning 412 seats, meaning they needed 23,564 voters for each seat.
Reform UK received 4,117,610 voters, winning 5 seats, meaning they needed 823,522 votes per seat.
This deters voters as they feel their vote will be less likely to lead to representation, entrenching the two-party system.
In a boost for Reform, being ‘too right wing/extreme’ came fifth in peoples’ concerns, indicating people believe the party’s new rigorous vetting of candidates is working.
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People considering voting Reform – reservations
People considering voting Reform – reservations
YouGov
Perhaps unsurprisingly, those considering voting Reform were predominantly older, leave voting and male.
On a potential merger between the two right wing parties, 51 per cent of Reform voters were opposed while 38 per cent supported.
Conservative voters were more inclined to support a merger (48 per cent) than not (42 per cent).
It comes as Reform UK continue to struggle to make inroads in elections despite strong national polling putting them neck and neck with Labour and the Tories.
Farage’s party has won seven council seats since July (up seven), compared to Labour’s 66 (down 28) and the Tories 50 (up 24).
Various polling models have put Reform on anywhere between 40 and 150 seats if a General Election was held tomorrow, however.
Today a national poll by FindOutNow put the party on 27 per cent, four points ahead of second placed Labour and six ahead of the Conservatives.
If Labour’s disgraced sucker-punch MP Mike Amesbury decides to resign and trigger a by-election, the anti-immigration party will have a chance to send a major warning shot to Starmer.
Reform is the only party other than Starmer’s to stand a chance of winning the traditionally safe Labour seat of Runcorn and Helsby.
As YouGov’s polling confirms, the party’s main attraction in Runcorn could well be that it is not the Conservatives or Labour.
