34% of Britons believe the Greens have a significant problem with anti-Semitism, putting them on a par with perceptions of Reform UK
Key takeaways
- Britons are now more likely to believe the Greens have a significant problem with prejudice against Jews (34%) than do not (28%)
- 34% of Britons also believe Reform UK has a problem with anti-Semitism, while 27% see it as an issue within Labour
- 22% of 2024 Green voters believe the party has a significant or major problem with anti-Semitism
- Since August, there have been significant increases in the proportion of Britons who believe the Greens are out of touch (now 54%), weak (53%), serving themselves (48%), untrustworthy (44%), elitist (43%) prejudiced (42%), extreme (42%) and unclear what they stand for (40%)
The Greens’ party conference did not go as smoothly as those of some other parties, being overshadowed by members voting in favour of a controversial ‘Zionism is racism’ motion, which has been condemned as anti-Semitic by numerous Jewish groups. The motion, which has been criticised by several senior members in the party, as well as the chair of Jewish Greens, declares that support for a Jewish state is a form of racism and opens the possibility of Jewish Green members being disciplined for attending ‘Zionist’ synagogues.
This is not the first time the Green Party has been criticised by Jewish groups, and it is clear that repeated scandals in this area are beginning to take their toll on perceptions of the party.
A third of Britons (34%) now believe the Greens have a major or significant problem with prejudice against Jewish people, up from 25% thinking this was the case in May. Over this period, the proportion seeing the Greens as having little to no problem with anti-Semitism has fallen eight points to 28%, meaning the party is now more likely to be seen to have an issue with prejudice against Jewish people than not.
This puts the party level with Reform UK, who are also perceived as having a significant problem with anti-Semitism by a third of Britons (34%), relative to 30% feeling the party has little to no issues with prejudice against Jewish people. These perceptions have not shifted significantly over the last few months.
Labour, who were found by the Equality and Human Rights Commission to be responsible for unlawful discrimination against Jewish people under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, are seen as having a significant or major problem with anti-Jewish prejudice by around a quarter of Britons (27%), though this is down six points from May, with a greater 36% now seeing the party as having little to no problem with the issue.
Just one in seven Britons (13-14%) see either the Conservatives or Lib Dems as having notable problems with anti-Semitism.
Although Green voters are, somewhat unsurprisingly, the least likely to believe the party has a significant problem with anti-Semitism, a full 22% of those who backed them in 2024 think it’s an issue in the party, up from 12% believing so in May. An unchanged half of Green voters (52%) feel it’s not really a problem in the party.
Labour voters are now roughly divided 30% to 36% on whether or not anti-Semitism is a major issue for the Green Party, having tended to believe it wasn’t an issue for them in May by a margin of 46% to 17%. Half of Conservative voters (51%) now believe it’s a significant problem for the Greens, as do 62% of Reform voters.
Belief that prejudice against Jewish people is prevalent in Reform does not follow the same pattern, with 48-51% of Labour, Lib Dem and Green voters feeling the party has a significant problem with anti-Semitism, compared to 26% of Conservatives and a mere 10% of Reform voters.
How do Britons see the Greens, October 2026?
It’s not just the Green Party’s image in this area that is worse than prior to their party conference. Across our nine typical party image questions, the margin by which the public see the Greens negatively has grown by an average of seven points since August.
This includes a majority of Britons (54%) now seeing the Greens as out of touch, up eight points over the last two months, compared to only 17% now finding the party to be in touch, down four points. Alongside this, 42% of Britons now think of the Greens as being generally prejudiced or as extreme, up six and five points respectively since August, while just 23-24% view them as tolerant or moderate, compared to 26% previously.
Having already been seen to be prioritising their own interests over trying to do the right thing by 44% to 32% in August, nearly half of Britons (48%) now believe the Greens are serving themselves, while the proportion seeing them as trying to do the right thing has fallen to 28%.
There has been a similar net shift when it comes to the party’s sense of purpose, with Britons now finding it unclear what the party stands for by an eight point margin of 40% to 32%, having been evenly split 36% to 36% on the question two months ago.
Over this period, the proportion of Britons who view the Greens as untrustworthy has risen four points to 44%, with the share seeing them as caring only for a select few up three points to 43%.
Additionally, our latest tracker data shows that the proportion of Britons willing to consider voting for the Green Party has fallen to just 20%, the lowest recorded for the party to date. This compares to around a quarter of Britons (24-26%) being open to backing them in the three months before Polanski became leader, and a peak of 31% being willing to consider the Greens in March this year, in the aftermath of the Gorton and Denton by-election.
In some cases, these shifts in opinion towards the Greens also include substantial changes in opinion among Green voters themselves.
Back in August, 2024 Green voters were 61 percentage points more likely to believe the party was tolerant than prejudiced (69% vs 8%); today, that margin has fallen to 43 points, with 17% believing the party is prejudiced. Likewise, the margin by which Green voters see the party as in touch has been slashed from 51 points (65% to 14%) to 31 points (52% to 21%) in just two months.
See the full results here and here
Methodology
- Sample size: An online survey of 2,082 adults aged 18+ living in Great Britain
- Fieldwork: 7 to 8 October 2026
- Commissioned by: YouGov
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