Latest Welsh favourability ratings, government approval, most important issues and more
Key takeaways
- The Welsh public are split in their opinion of Rhun ap Iorwerth, with 33% having a favourable opinion of the new first minister and 32% seeing him unfavourably
- Andy Burnham has a positive net favourability rating of +14 in Wales, while Nigel Farage is the least popular major politician in the country, with a Welsh net score of -43
- Welsh party leaders are largely anonymous in the country, with at least 68% of Welsh people having no opinion of all Senedd leaders, except ap Iorwerth
- Plaid Cymru are more likely to be viewed as a ‘main party’ in Wales (78%) than Labour (67%), with only 31% believing the Conservatives fit in this category
- Health (48%) and the economy (44%) are seen as the most important issues facing Wales, followed by immigration (33%)
Today, King Charles and Queen Camilla have officially opened the new term of Wales’s parliament, the Senedd, which began after Plaid Cymru took the reins of government for the first time following May's devolved elections. After several months of bedding in, new YouGov polling reveals where political opinion stands on this new government and wider Welsh politics.
Welsh political favourability ratings, October 2026
Wales is somewhat unusual at present, with the country’s two heads of government not only the most popular politicians in the country, but also neither having negative favourability ratings.
Most popular of all is Andy Burnham, with half of Welsh people (49%) currently holding a favourable opinion of the prime minister, relative to just a third (35%) seeing him unfavourably, leaving Burnham with a clearly positive Welsh net favourability rating in October of +14.
Rhun ap Iorwerth instead divides the Welsh public, with his functionally neutral net rating of +1 made up of 33% seeing the new first minister in positive light and 32% holding an unfavourable opinion of the Plaid Cymru leader. A further 35% of Welsh people are still unsure how they feel about ap Iorwerth.
This is nothing, though, compared to the anonymity of other Welsh party leaders, all of whom receive an answer of “don’t know” from at least 68% of Welsh people, with none seen favourably by more than 10%.
For the Welsh party leaders other than ap Iorwerth, this includes being largely anonymous even among those who voted for their party in May’s Senedd elections. For instance, 61% of those who voted for Reform five months ago are unsure in their opinion of Helen Jenner, the new leader of Reform in Wales.
These parties’ Westminster leaders are more familiar to the Welsh public, though none hold the popularity of Burnham.
Two thirds of Welsh people (66%) view Nigel Farage in an unfavourable light, roughly triple the 23% who feel favourably towards the Reform leader. While his Welsh net favourability rating of -43 might not be as low as his rating of -56 in Scotland, it does still leave him bottom of the pile of current party leaders in the country.
Kemi Badenoch and Ed Davey are both seen positively by just over a quarter of Welsh people (27-28%), though with many more having a negative view of the Tory leader (50%) than her Lib Dem counterpart (33%). This leaves Badenoch with a Welsh net score of -22 to Davey's -6.
Zack Polanski’s net rating in Wales of -26 is close to Badenoch’s, with nearly half of the Welsh public (47%) having a negative opinion of the Green leader, relative to just 21% seeing him in a positive light.
How do Welsh people see Plaid Cymru?
Mirroring the divided nature of Welsh opinion towards Rhun ap Iorwerth, attitudes towards Plaid Cymru as a party are mixed. In the more positive column, Welsh people tend to see Plaid Cymru as moderate (by a margin of 41% to 17%), as having a clear sense of purpose (by 38% to 30%) and as being tolerant (by 32% to 25%).
However, Welsh people also tend to believe the party serves its own interests over trying to do the right thing (by 41% to 33%), are out of touch (by 39% to 27%), care about a select few more than they care about ordinary people (by 39% to 32%), and are weak rather than strong (by 36% to 20%).
Whether or not Plaid Cymru are competent or trustworthy divides the Welsh public, with 29-30% thinking they are and 31-32% feeling they are not.
Who do Welsh people believe are the main parties in Wales?
May’s election didn’t just bring Plaid Cymru to power, but transformed the whole party system in the Senedd, with Labour reduced to being the third largest party and Reform overtaking the Conservatives to become the biggest party on the right.
The result clearly informs how the Welsh public perceive the parties’ statuses today, with 78% now seeing Plaid Cymru as one of the ‘main parties’ in Wales, more than the 67% who still see Labour as one of the leading forces in Welsh politics. Just 12% of Welsh people do not see Plaid Cymru as a ‘main party’, relative to 22% feeling Labour don’t make the cut.
Half of Welsh people (51%) also feel that Reform have graduated to being one of Wales’s ‘main parties’, including 82% of those who voted Reform in May, though around a third (35%) believe the party is not at the top table.
The picture is near flipped for the Conservatives, who just 31% of Welsh people believe are one of the country’s ‘main parties’, while a majority (56%) feel the party is not a major force in Wales today.
Around three quarters of Welsh people (73-77%) are agreed that the Greens and Liberal Democrats, who won just two and one seats respectively in May’s elections, are not ‘main parties’ in Wales.
Do Welsh people approve of their governments?
Neither government in Wales is particularly popular at the moment, with 60% of Welsh adults disapproving of the UK government’s record to date, relative to just 18% approving of Labour’s record in office.
While this is an improvement from August, when the UK government was felt to be doing poorly by 65% to 14%, Labour’s record has still not won over even those who voted the party into power in 2024, who are divided 43% to 40% on Labour’s actions in office so far.
The fledgling Welsh government’s record fares little better, with 50% of Welsh people disapproving of its record so far, compared to just 22% approving.
What do Welsh people feel are the most important issues facing Wales?
Topping the political agenda in Wales at the moment are health, which nearly half of Welsh people (48%) believe is one of the most important issues facing the country, and the economy, which is viewed as a major problem by 44%.
Immigration finishes third on our tracker this month, with 33% of Welsh people believing it is one of the most pressing concerns in Wales, including 75% of those who voted for Reform in 2024, for whom it’s the top issue by a clear margin.
Roughly a quarter of Welsh people (24%) view housing as among the top concerns in the country, with 20% feeling the same of education. Welfare benefits and the environment are seen as among the most important issues facing Wales by 15-16% of the public.
See the full results here and here
Methodology
- Sample size: An online survey of 1,039 adults aged 16+ living in Wales
- Fieldwork: 28 September to 5 October 2026
- Commissioned by: YouGov
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Photo: Getty
