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Kemi Badenoch records her highest favourability figure to date
Key takeaways
- Net favourability towards Keir Starmer (-45) and Nigel Farage (-38) is largely unchanged from last month
- 29% of Britons now see Kemi Badenoch favourably, her highest score to date, though 50% still see her unfavourably
- 26% of Britons have a favourable opinion of Zack Polanski, his highest score to date, while 34% see the Green leader unfavourably
- Andy Burnham remains the most popular Labour figure among the public, including holding a positive net favourability rating (+9)
Keir Starmer favourability, April 2026
Despite growing pressure on Keir Starmer following further controversy over the Peter Mandelson vetting scandal, the public’s opinion towards the prime minister is broadly unchanged relative to last month. Around a quarter of Britons (24%) see the Labour leader favourably, while nearly three times as many (69%) view him unfavourably.
But although both figures are within the margin of error of March’s numbers, Starmer’s April net favourability rating of -45 is his highest recorded by our tracker since last August and is significantly up on the -57 recorded in January of this year.
Labour voters themselves remain divided on Keir Starmer, with 46% seeing the prime minister they elected nearly two years ago in a positive light and 48% viewing him negatively.
Kemi Badenoch favourability, April 2026
Kemi Badenoch’s figures are likewise within the margin of error of last month’s, but the 29% of Britons with a positive opinion of the Conservative leader is the highest recorded by our tracker to date, and is part of a steady trend of improvement in attitudes towards Badenoch since the middle of last year.
Nonetheless, a persistent half of the public (50%) have an unfavourable opinion of the Tory leader, leaving Badenoch with a net rating of -21.
This advance is particularly concentrated among Tories, among whom opinion has improved sharply since last autumn. Today, 72% of 2024 Conservatives see Badenoch favourably, up 20 points since November and the highest recorded by YouGov so far, while the proportion seeing her unfavourably has fallen twelve points over this period, to 18%, the lowest such figure since she became party leader.
Alongside this improvement in her ratings among Conservatives, from a net of +22 to +54, esteem towards Badenoch has also risen among 2024 Reform UK voters since November (from -1 to +18), however opinions are near-unchanged among Labour (-59 vs -61) and Lib Dem voters (-50 vs -51).
Nigel Farage favourability, April 2026
Just over a quarter of Britons (27%) have a favourable opinion of Nigel Farage, relative to just under two thirds (65%) holding an unfavourable view of the Reform UK leader, leaving him with a net rating in April of -38.
These figures are all not just within the margin of error of last month’s scores, but are identical to Farage’s favourability ratings this time last year, prior to the boost he received after Reform UK’s success in the 2025 local elections.
Ed Davey favourability, April 2026
Ed Davey bucks the trend for little-to-no change, with his net rating improving from -14 in March to -3 in April. After several months of more negative attitudes towards the Lib Dem leader, the public are once again divided in their view on Davey, with 30% seeing him favourably and 33% unfavourably.
Zack Polanski favourability, April 2026
Opinion towards Zack Polanski has also got a little more positive over the last month, with 26% of Britons now seeing the Green leader favourably, up four points since March and the highest figure recorded by our tracker to date.
This compares to 34% of the public seeing Polanski unfavourably, relative to 36% last month, leaving him with a net score of -8.
Political favourability ratings, April 2026
With speculation mounting about a challenge to Keir Starmer’s leadership in the aftermath of next month’s local elections, Andy Burnham remains the most popular potential candidate. This includes holding a rare positive net favourability rating with the public, 36% of whom view the Greater Manchester mayor positively, relative to just 27% seeing him unfavourably.
This compares to clearly negative net favourability ratings of -20 for health secretary Wes Streeting, -22 for home secretary Shabana Mahmood and -31 for former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner.
All these figures, though, compare favourably to chancellor Rachel Reeves, who holds a net score of -49 with the public, though this is her highest figure since last October, having sunk as low as -59 in the aftermath of her second budget.
Among Labour voters, Andy Burnham has a different unique status, being the only politician polled who a majority of the party’s 2024 backers (55%) see favourably, while just 14% view him unfavourably. He likewise has positive net ratings among both Lib Dem (+33) and Green voters (+27), something not true of any of the other Labour figures included in this month’s poll.
Angela Rayner, though, does share this status with Labour voters, being seen favourably by them by a margin of 48% to 33%.
Wes Streeting divides Labour voters 28% to 34%, while they tend to see Shabana Mahmood unfavourably (30% to 18%), and fully half (50%) have a negative opinion of Rachel Reeves, relative to a third (32%) seeing the chancellor in a positive light.
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Photo: Getty