The public are divided on Andy Burnham, while Kemi Badenoch returns her highest favourability ratings to date

Key takeaways

  • The public are divided 38% to 35% in their opinion of Andy Burnham, in our first favourability poll of his premiership, making him the most popular new PM since Theresa May
  • Kemi Badenoch’s latest net favourability score of -11 is her highest to date and the highest of any Conservative leader in more than five years
  • Nigel Farage’s latest net favourability rating of -46 is the joint-lowest figure recorded by our favourability tracker in the 10 years it has run
  • New chancellor John Healey records a positive net favourability rating of +5

Andy Burnham favourability, July 2026

It might have seemed somewhat inevitable for months, but Andy Burnham is now the prime minister, having been elected unopposed as Labour leader last Friday, and appointed as the head of government on Monday.

YouGov’s first favourability poll of Burnham’s premiership shows that the public are divided on the new first lord of the treasury, with 38% of Britons seeing him favourably and 35% viewing the former mayor of Greater Manchester unfavourably. A quarter of the public (26%) are still yet to make up their minds about Number 10’s latest occupant.

These latest figures do, though, represent a small increase in Burnham’s popularity. Not only is the proportion with a positive view of the new Labour leader the highest recorded by YouGov to date, but his net rating (+3) has risen twelve points since our previous poll, which was conducted at the start of last week.

Burnham’s first net rating as prime minister is also six points higher than Keir Starmer’s initial rating after the 2024 general election (which was -3), and he is also significantly more popular than Boris Johnson (-18), Rishi Sunak (-19) and Liz Truss (-31) when they entered Downing Street.

Theresa May, however, recorded a rating of +12 in our first ever favourability poll in August 2016, shortly after she took office.

Kemi Badenoch favourability, July 2026

One thing the new prime minister will have to keep an eye on is the growing popularity of opposition leader Kemi Badenoch, whose latest favourability rating of -11 is the highest yet recorded by YouGov, as well as the highest recorded of any Conservative leader since April 2021.

A third of Britons (33%) now see Badenoch favourably, compared to just a fifth (19%) this time last year, while the proportion seeing her unfavourably has fallen to 44%, having sat at 54% twelve months ago.

Nigel Farage favourability, July 2026

The picture looks very different for Nigel Farage, who earlier this month resigned his Clacton seat in order to fight a “people versus the establishment” by-election, following investigations into his financial interests and relationships with wealthy individuals.

Our new figures show that just 22% of Britons now have a favourable opinion of Farage, the lowest recorded by our tracker since 2020. This is relative to 68% of Britons seeing the Reform UK leader in a negative light, the joint-highest figure to date, and includes 56% of the public seeing him very unfavourably.

Altogether, this leaves Farage with a net favourability rating of -46, which is not only the joint lowest figure recorded by our tracker in the ten years it has run, but is on a par with figures recorded by Boris Johnson after the first ‘partygate’ revelations had broken (-42 in early December 2021) and Keir Starmer just before his resignation last month (-45).

Zack Polanski favourability, July 2026

Opinion towards Zack Polanski has been relatively stable since the sharp increase in negativity in April that followed his controversial retweeting of criticism of the police’s handling of the Golders Green stabbing.

Just a fifth of Britons (20%) hold a favourable opinion of the Green leader, down six points from peak-Polanski in mid-April, while nearly half (46%) view the self-styled eco-populist unfavourably, though this feeling is itself down four points from its peak in mid-May.

These figures give Zack Polanski a net favourability rating of -26.

Ed Davey favourability, July 2026

Ed Davey’s favourability ratings are likewise reasonably stable, with 26% of Britons seeing the Lib Dem leader in a positive light and 34% viewing him negatively, resulting in a net rating of -8.

New cabinet minister ratings, July 2026

With a new prime minister comes a cabinet reshuffle, requiring the public to familiarise themselves with some new faces at the top of government.

John Healey’s appointment as chancellor was a particular surprise for many, and indeed 62% of the public are currently unsure how they feel about Rachel Reeves’ successor. Around a fifth of Britons (22%) do, however, say they view the former defence secretary favourably, compared to 17% seeing him unfavourably, leaving him with a net rating of +5.

Angela Rayner has made a return to her former position of housing secretary, while Ed Miliband has been promoted to foreign secretary. Both ‘soft left’ figures are seen favourably by 23% of Britons and unfavourably by 50-51%.

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood is one of the few cabinet members staying in their previous post, while one-time health secretary Wes Streeting has moved to defence. Both have seen small increases in their popularity in the last month, with Mahmood’s net favourability rising from -25 to -14 and Streeting’s from -38 to -27.

See the full results here

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