Opinion towards both Zack Polanski and Ed Davey has become significantly more negative in the last month
Key takeaways
- 56% of Britons now see Zack Polanski unfavourably, with his net favourability rating falling eight points over the last month to -37, the lowest recorded for the Green Party leader to date
- Ed Davey’s net favourability rating has also fallen eight points since mid-September, to -16, his lowest score since the 2024 election
- An unchanged 46% of Britons see Andy Burnham favourably, though 42% now see him unfavourably, the highest level since he became prime minister
- Kemi Badenoch’s net favourability rating remains at -15
- Britons see Nigel Farage unfavourably by 67% to 25%
Andy Burnham favourability, October 2026
As Andy Burnham reaches the three month mark at Number Ten, he remains the most popular politician in the country, with an unchanged 46% of Britons having a favourable opinion of the prime minister. However, this number is increasingly matched by the proportion who see Burnham in an unfavourable light, which has reached 42% in our latest poll, the highest level since he took office.
Altogether, this leaves Burnham with a net favourability rating in October of +4, which is down from a peak of +13 in August. While this could be seen as the ‘honeymoon period’ coming to an end, this is now the longest period that a prime minister has gone without recording a negative net favourability rating in our tracker since Theresa May prior to the 2017 general election.
Burnham’s status as the most popular serving politician is not just the case across Britain as a whole, but can also be seen in our recent favourability data from Scotland and Wales.
Kemi Badenoch favourability, October 2026
Although Kemi Badenoch’s ratings have trended upwards over much of the last year, opinion towards the Conservative leader does now appear to have settled somewhat, with her latest net favourability rating of -15 unchanged from last month, which was itself largely identical to a -16 score in August.
While a third of Britons (33%) hold a favourable opinion of Kemi Badenoch, nearly half (48%) see the opposition leader unfavourably.
Nigel Farage favourability, October 2026
Opinion towards Nigel Farage remains in a similarly negative territory to recent months, with just 25% of Britons seeing the Reform UK leader in a positive light, while a full two thirds (67%) view him negatively, including a majority (55%) seeing him *very* unfavourably.
Over a longer period, the trend in opinion towards Farage mirrors that of Badenoch, with his October net favourability rating of -42 down from a score of -33 this time last year.
Zack Polanski favourability, October 2026
Zack Polanski has not had the easiest month, failing to win the Holborn and St Pancras by-election and seeing the Greens’ annual conference get overshadowed by a controversial ‘Zionism is racism’ motion that he did not support. Now, for the first time, a clear majority of Britons (56%) hold an unfavourable opinion of the Green leader, up six points since last month.
With just one in five Britons seeing him favourably (19%), Polanski’s October net favourability rating is -37, which is both the lowest we have recorded for the Green Party leader to date and is on a par with Keir Starmer’s final rating as prime minister (-36).
Although six in ten Green voters (60%) hold a favourable opinion of Polanski, roughly a quarter of those who backed the party in 2024 (27%) now see him in a negative light, as do around half of those who backed Labour (51%) or the Lib Dems (53%).
Ed Davey favourability, October 2026
Also taking a negative turn over the last month has been opinion towards Ed Davey, who has faced growing criticism within the Lib Dems over his leadership, with two of the party’s spokespeople resigning their positions.
Just 24% of Britons now have a favourable opinion of Davey, down four points since last month to the joint-lowest level since the 2024 election, while the proportion holding a negative opinion of the Lib Dem leader has risen to 40%, up four points since September. Altogether, this leaves Davey with a net favourability rating in October of -16, his lowest since the 2024 election.
Only around half of voters who backed the Lib Dems at the last election (52%) have a favourable opinion of Ed Davey today, while around a quarter view him unfavourably (26%). While this net rating of +26 among Lib Dems voters is on a similar level to Polanski’s among Green voters (+33), it trails the equivalent ratings of Burnham, Badenoch and Farage, who each score between +57 and +61 among those who backed their respective parties at the last election.
Political favourability ratings, October 2026
Next week, all eyes will turn to John Healey, as he delivers his first budget as chancellor. For many Britons, this will be their first impression of Healey, who currently returns an answer of “don’t know” from 58% when asked what they think of him, though with more expressing a negative opinion of him (26%) than a positive one (16%).
Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith will also be making his budget day debut, though an unknown to an even greater proportion of the public (79%), something also true of Daisy Cooper (72% don’t know), who will be responding for the Lib Dems.
Reform’s Robert Jenrick is the currently the best known of the treasury spokespeople, with most Britons (53%) having an opinion of him, though this is overwhelmingly negative, with 41% viewing the former Tory unfavourably, relative to just 12% seeing him positively. Even among Reform voters he is divisive, with just 35% positive towards Jenrick and 27% negative.
Half of Britons (50%) hold an opinion on Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe, with these more than twice as likely to see him unfavourably (35%) than favourably (15%).
Those who backed Reform in 2024 tend to see Lowe positively by 47% to 25%, while similar proportions of Conservatives see him favourably (26%) and unfavourably (28%). A mere 5-7% of Labour, Lib Dem or Green voters see Lowe positively.
See the full results here
Methodology
- Sample size: An online survey of 2,071 adults aged 18+ living in Great Britain
- Fieldwork: 15 to 16 October 2026
- Commissioned by: YouGov
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Photo: Getty
