Key takeaways

  • Poll conducted largely prior to Keir Starmer’s resignation finds Britons are divided 34% to 38% in their opinion on Andy Burnham
  • Burnham’s latest net favourability score of -4 is higher than prior to his by-election win (-11) but lower than before he began his run for parliament (+4)
  • Net favourability towards Keir Starmer (-45) is largely unchanged from last month
  • Kemi Badenoch’s latest net favourability score of -15 is her highest to date
  • 25% of Britons have a favourable opinion of Nigel Farage, the joint-lowest figure for the Reform UK leader since the 2024 election

Andy Burnham favourability, June 2026

Fresh from his decisive victory in the Makerfield by-election, the public are near divided on Andy Burnham, with a third (34%) having a favourable opinion of the man expected to be next prime minister, relative to 38% viewing him unfavourably. This leaves Burnham with a net rating of -4, the highest of any politician polled and up seven points from last week, prior to the by-election. (Note also that this survey was conducted largely prior to Keir Starmer's resignation, and therefore does not reflect any impact that event may have had on attitudes towards Burnham)

However, while this may represent a small victory bump, it’s still a negative turn in opinion towards Burnham since he began his run for parliament. In mid-May, just 30% of Britons held an unfavourable opinion of the then mayor of Greater Manchester, eight points lower than today.

Burnham does, though, have room to win people over, with 29% of Britons still unsure how they feel about the likely next prime minister.

One of Burnham’s key challenges will be re-uniting the now fragmented coalition that won Labour the 2024 election. While 60% of 2024 Labour voters do view Burnham favourably, more than have a positive view of any other figure in the party, a not insignificant fifth (20%) currently see him in a negative light.

In addition to this +40 net favourability score among Labour voters, Burnham currently holds positive ratings among Lib Dem (+23) and Green voters (+15), though is mostly seen negatively by those who voted Conservative (-47) or Reform UK (-56) two years ago.

Keir Starmer favourability, June 2026

Opinion towards Keir Starmer is not so evenly divided. In our poll conducted largely before he announced his resignation as Labour leader on Monday, just 22% of Britons said they held a favourable opinion of the outgoing prime minister, while two thirds (67%) said they saw him negatively.

This leaves Starmer with a final pre-resignation net favourability rating of -45, down 27 points from his last rating ahead of the 2024 general election (-18), though 12 points higher than his nadir in January of this year (-57).

It also means that Starmer has ended up in a similar, if not slightly more positive, territory than Theresa May (-49) and Boris Johnson (-53) when they announced their resignations, as well as Rishi Sunak (-53) before his loss in the 2024 general election.

YouGov’s ratings for Keir Starmer have not (and never have) fallen as low as those for Liz Truss at the end of her short premiership, when she plummeted to a net favourability score of -70.

Nigel Farage favourability, June 2026

Between May and September last year, Nigel Farage consistently recorded net scores in our favourability tracker of between -27 and -31, with as many as 32% of Britons saying they viewed the Reform UK leader favourably.

Since then, there’s been a gradual downward trend in opinion towards Farage, and today, just 25% of Britons see him in a positive light, the joint-lowest figure in our tracker since the 2024 general election. This is relative to 65% of the public seeing the Reform UK leader unfavourably, leaving him with a net score of -40.

Kemi Badenoch favourability, June 2026

By contrast, Kemi Badenoch has been on upward trend in recent months, with her latest net favourability score of -15 the highest yet recorded by YouGov. This rating consists of 31% of Britons seeing the Conservative leader favourably, compared to less than half (46%) holding a negative opinion of her.

This comes alongside other YouGov tracker data from mid-June showing that Britons are now roughly as likely to believe Badenoch is doing well as Conservatives leader (38%) as to feel she is doing poorly (39%), while 26% of Britons see her as a prime minister in waiting, the highest figure to date.

Zack Polanski favourability, June 2026

Opinion on Green leader Zack Polanski has not particularly recovered from the sharp increase in negativity towards him after his controversial retweeting of criticism of the police’s handling of the Golders Green stabbing.

Just a fifth of Britons (21%) hold a favourable opinion of the self-styled eco-populist, down five points from peak-Polanski in April, while nearly half (47%) view him unfavourably, resulting in a net rating of -16.

Ed Davey favourability, June 2026

Ed Davey’s favourability ratings remain reasonably stable, with both the 27% of Britons with a positive opinion and 36% with a negative opinion of the Lib Dem leader exactly in line with his average figures on our tracker over the past year. This leaves him with both a latest and average net score of -9.

Political favourability ratings, June 2026

With Andy Burnham likely to be appointed prime minister without a contest, attention has already begun to move to who he will include in his cabinet.

Angela Rayner, who is widely slated for a return to cabinet, is seen favourably by 21% of Britons, though with 54% seeing the former deputy PM unfavourably. This latest net score of -33 is near-identical to Rayner’s final rating when in government of -32, and is down from the -40 recorded in the aftermath of her resignation as housing secretary over her tax affairs.

Wes Streeting was previously seen as a potential leadership candidate, though has since backed Burnham and is now seen as being in line for a top job. Opinion towards Streeting is yet to recover from an uptick in negativity in the aftermath of his resignation as health secretary last month, with just 13% holding a favourable opinion of him, while 51% of Britons see the figurehead of the Labour right unfavourably.

One in seven Britons (14%) have a favourable opinion of Shabana Mahmood, who reports suggest could remain as home secretary in a Burnham government, while 39% see her negatively. Less likely to remain in her post is Rachel Reeves, who is seen positively by a similar 14% of the public, though with fully 64% of Britons holding an unfavourable opinion of the current chancellor.

Beyond Burnham’s victory, the Makerfield by-election was also notable for being the first major electoral test of Restore Britain, Rupert Lowe’s party to the right of Reform UK, who took 7% of the vote. Overall, 16% of Britons have a favourable opinion of Lowe, while 36% see him negatively.

This includes 50% of 2024 Reform UK voters having a positive opinion of the Restore leader, relative to 22% seeing him unfavourably.

See the full results here

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