As the Green party’s support has grown, their stance on the environment has become a less central attraction

Key takeaways

  • The proportion of Green considerers saying the party’s stance on climate change is the thing that most attracts them to the party has fallen from 49% to 22% over the last year
  • Policies and values not related to the environment are the main reason to vote Green for 38% of those considering the party
  • A concern the party is a wasted vote is the top reservation for 36% of those open to voting Green, though this is down from 50% last February
  • Just 16% of those considering voting Green have no reservations at all about the party

Last summer, the Greens were averaging at an 11% vote share in our weekly voting intention polls. By November, that proportion had risen to 16%, and in the last month, they have averaged at a 19% share, putting them on a similar level to Labour and the Conservatives.

This breakthrough has typically been attributed to Zack Polanski, who was elected leader last September. His more populist leadership style has been credited with enabling the party to gain a level of attention that his predecessors struggled to achieve, even during their record performance at the last election.

But there’s reason to believe these gains aren't so much a case of appealing to new audiences as they are about becoming better at convincing those on the fence to come down on the Greens’ side.

Our weekly trackers on whether Britons would consider voting for each of the major parties show that the proportion of Britons willing to consider voting Green in the last month, an average of 28%, is not up hugely on the roughly quarter of Britons (25-26%) willing to do so before Polanski became leader. A much smaller change than the seven point increase on our voting intention question among the public as a whole (including those who do not give a voting intention).

This suggests that key to explaining the Greens’ gains is examining how attitudes to the party among this group have changed. We can do this by repeating a YouGov study from last February, where we asked those considering the Greens to tell us in their own words both what most attracts them to the party and their biggest reservations about the party, with the results then categorised by YouGov’s AI-powered language model.

What attracts people to the Green Party?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the party’s stance on the environment and climate change is a key draw, with 22% of Green considerers saying this is the factor that most attracts them to the party. However, this is significantly lower than it was a year ago (49%), suggesting the Greens’ appeal has changed and is less single-issue.

Instead, their wider platform and values are often mentioned today: collectively, 38% of those considering voting Green give policies or values not explicitly tied to the environment as the main reason to back the party, up from 29% last year.

This includes one in six considerers (16%) who talk generally of the Greens’ policies as the most attractive aspect of the party, with their economic policies and proposals to tackle the cost of living each given as the top reason to vote Green by 2% of considerers.

A further one in ten (10%) say the fact the Greens are left-wing is the party’s most attractive feature, with a similar proportion (8%) more broadly feeling the party’s values align with their own.

But it’s not just issues, policies and values that are causing people to consider the Greens. One in six of those contemplating voting for the party (16%) say that it’s a perception they are different and offer a new alternative that draws them most to the Greens, while it’s a belief they represent regular people for 6% and that they appear honest and genuine for 5%.

Just 2% of Green considerers cite the party’s leadership and candidates as their top reason for supporting them.

What are the main reservations those considering voting Green have about the party?

Of course, just because someone is open to voting for a party doesn’t mean they will necessarily do so. Just 16% of those considering voting Green, amounting to 5% of Britons, say they have no reservations at all about voting for the party, though this is up from 9% of those who were considering the party last February.

Belief the Greens are a wasted vote has long dogged the party, and it remains the main doubt about going Green among 36% of those considering doing so. This is, though, down from 50% in February 2025, suggesting their victory in the recent Gorton and Denton by-election (which occurred shortly before fieldwork for this study) has potentially shifted perceptions.

Other common concerns relate to their policies, with 17% highlighting specific policy areas, including 5% who mention the party’s defence policy and 3% each mentioning the party’s drug policies, economic policies and opposition to nuclear power. Another 7% of considerers said more generally that they don’t know or like the Greens’ policies beyond the environment.

Separately, governing experience is another common concern, with 12% of Green considerers saying that the party’s lack of experience is their biggest reservation about voting for them.

Among 2024 Labour voters who are considering voting Green, the biggest group both last February and today, the proportion saying that the Greens being a wasted vote was their biggest worry has roughly halved from 59% to 25%, while the number saying they have no reservations at all has risen from 5% to 27%.

See the full results here

Interested in taking YouGov surveys? Would you consider voting Green? What do you think about the major political parties, and everything else? Have your say, join the YouGov panel, and get paid to share your thoughts. Sign up here.

Interested in commissioning YouGov research? We connect in real-time with real people around the world to gather their thoughts, behaviours, and opinions, to ensure that our research data is powered by reality. Explore our survey services here.

Photo: Getty

Subscribe to the YouGov newsletter