Drop in support follows Nigel Farage’s controversial Putin comments

Three opinion polls have shown that support for Reform has fallen, suggesting Nigel Farage’s comments about Ukraine and Putin may have cut-through with voters. 

New polling conducted by J L Partner showed Reform down three points compared to its previous poll, while a new Savanta poll had the party’s vote share down by two points.

Furthermore a poll by Deltapoll had Reform down one point to 15%, although Redfield and Wilton’s poll is the only one still showing that Reform is coming in higher than the Tories, by one point, although with no recent change in support, sticking at 19%. 

All the polls were taken over the same four days between 21 and 24 June and offer a glimmer of good news for the Conservatives who fear the Reform poll crossover. 

It suggests Farage has failed to impress the electorate after recent comments on Putin and the war in Ukraine and could see the party’s vote share stall where it is with just over a week until the general election. 

On Friday 21 June, Farage made the controversial claim in a BBC interview that Nato had ‘provoked’ Vladimir Putin into invading Ukraine. He defended his claim after receiving a wave of condemnation from leaders across political parties. 

Farage insisted he was not an “apologist or supporter” of Putin, however he was praised by a number of Russian state-owned news organisations who welcomed his comments. 

Rishi Sunak said Farage’s comments were “completely wrong and only plays into Putin’s hands” while the SNP said it was “an insult to all Ukrainians who have suffered.”

Farage also said during the Panorama interview that, although he “disliked” Putin as a person, he “admired him as a political operator because he’s managed to take control of running Russia.”

Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward

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