Data source: British Election Study Internet Panel, Waves 1–30
(Feb 2014 – May 2025)
Question: "How much do you like or dislike each of the following party leaders?"
(0 = strongly dislike, 10 = strongly like)
Fieldwork: YouGov online panel
Waves in dataset: W1, W2, W3, W4, W5, W6, W7, W8, W9, W10, W11, W15, W16, W17, W18, W19, W20, W21, W27, W28, W29, W30 (22 of 30 waves)
Waves absent: W12, W13, W14, W22, W23, W24, W25, W26
9999 are treated as missing
per BES conventions. A total of 34,001 such responses were excluded from
analysis. NA values are also excluded.
Top panel: mean and median like/dislike score with ±1 SD band. Second panel: stacked share in dislike/neutral/like bands. Third panel: share giving extreme scores (0 or 10). Bottom panel: heatmap showing full score distribution at each wave. Dotted vertical lines mark key political events.
Farage's mean like/dislike score has remained below 5.0 (the scale midpoint) in every single wave of the BES panel from 2014 to 2025. He is, on average, more disliked than liked by the British public.
The heatmap (bottom panel) reveals a distinctly bimodal distribution: the darkest cells cluster at score 0 (strongly dislike) and, to a lesser extent, at scores 7–10. The neutral middle (4–6) is comparatively sparse. This confirms Farage is a polarising figure who provokes strong reactions rather than indifference.
The highest mean score was 3.42 in Wave 8 (2016-05-30; EU referendum campaign). Farage's ratings improve during periods of political salience when his base is mobilised. The 2019 Brexit Party European elections (Wave 16) also produced elevated scores.
The lowest mean score was 2.64 in Wave 21 (2021-05-16; Post-COVID; GB News era), consistent with the pattern seen in commercial polls that Farage's ratings suffer when he is out of front-line politics.
The share of respondents giving a score of exactly 0 (strongly dislike) has trended upward over the decade, from around 31% in early waves to 44% in recent waves. This suggests increasing intensity of negative feeling, even as his "like" share has remained relatively stable.
Waves 27–30 capture Farage's return as Reform UK leader and his election as MP for Clacton. His mean score in Wave 30 (May 2025) was 3.11, with 22.9% rating him 7–10 and 60.4% rating him 0–3.
| Wave | Fieldwork Mid | N | Mean | Median | SD | Dis% (0–3) |
Neu% (4–6) |
Like% (7–10) |
Score 0% | Score 10% | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W1 | 2014-02-28 | 27,521 | 3.17 | 3.0 | 3.02 | 57.8% | 25.3% | 16.9% | 31.0% | 3.7% | Pre-2014 European elections |
| W2 | 2014-06-08 | 29,471 | 3.30 | 3.0 | 3.26 | 56.6% | 22.5% | 21.0% | 34.4% | 5.4% | 2014 European election campaign |
| W3 | 2014-10-03 | 26,433 | 3.18 | 2.0 | 3.25 | 58.4% | 21.1% | 20.5% | 36.3% | 4.8% | Post-European elections; UKIP surge |
| W4 | 2015-03-17 | 30,065 | 2.97 | 2.0 | 3.16 | 61.1% | 20.8% | 18.0% | 38.3% | 4.2% | Pre-2015 general election campaign |
| W5 | 2015-04-18 | 29,776 | 3.08 | 2.0 | 3.26 | 59.7% | 21.0% | 19.3% | 38.4% | 5.1% | 2015 general election campaign |
| W6 | 2015-05-17 | 29,238 | 3.22 | 2.0 | 3.31 | 58.3% | 20.6% | 21.1% | 36.1% | 5.4% | Post-2015 general election |
| W7 | 2016-04-24 | 29,099 | 3.25 | 2.0 | 3.24 | 57.1% | 22.3% | 20.6% | 34.7% | 5.0% | Pre-EU referendum |
| W8 | 2016-05-30 | 31,765 | 3.42 | 3.0 | 3.36 | 55.5% | 21.1% | 23.4% | 34.7% | 6.1% | EU referendum campaign |
| W9 | 2016-06-29 | 28,800 | 2.94 | 1.0 | 3.39 | 62.0% | 17.3% | 20.7% | 44.7% | 5.8% | Post-EU referendum (Brexit vote) |
| W10 | 2016-12-03 | 28,211 | 2.98 | 1.0 | 3.39 | 62.2% | 17.2% | 20.6% | 42.9% | 6.4% | Post-referendum; Article 50 debate |
| W11 | 2017-04-28 | 29,494 | 3.17 | 2.0 | 3.48 | 59.5% | 17.9% | 22.5% | 41.7% | 7.6% | Pre-2017 general election |
| W15 | 2019-03-20 | 29,022 | 3.15 | 2.0 | 3.48 | 60.2% | 17.6% | 22.2% | 41.1% | 7.7% | Brexit deadlock; Brexit Party forming |
| W16 | 2019-06-05 | 35,568 | 3.30 | 2.0 | 3.66 | 58.7% | 16.1% | 25.3% | 43.4% | 9.8% | Post-2019 European elections |
| W17 | 2019-11-07 | 32,341 | 2.96 | 1.0 | 3.36 | 61.4% | 18.4% | 20.1% | 43.8% | 5.6% | Pre-2019 general election |
| W18 | 2019-11-27 | 36,148 | 3.10 | 2.0 | 3.42 | 59.3% | 19.3% | 21.4% | 43.1% | 5.9% | 2019 GE campaign |
| W19 | 2019-12-18 | 30,805 | 2.96 | 1.0 | 3.38 | 61.2% | 18.4% | 20.4% | 44.6% | 5.7% | Post-2019 general election |
| W20 | 2020-06-12 | 29,778 | 2.82 | 1.0 | 3.31 | 63.5% | 17.7% | 18.8% | 45.7% | 5.3% | COVID-19 pandemic; Farage low profile |
| W21 | 2021-05-16 | 28,342 | 2.64 | 1.0 | 3.21 | 65.7% | 17.4% | 16.8% | 47.2% | 4.4% | Post-COVID; GB News era |
| W27 | 2024-05-31 | 9,924 | 3.10 | 2.0 | 3.50 | 60.2% | 17.9% | 21.9% | 44.0% | 8.1% | 2024 GE called; Farage returns |
| W28 | 2024-06-22 | 30,473 | 3.05 | 1.0 | 3.48 | 61.2% | 16.9% | 21.8% | 44.3% | 7.2% | 2024 GE campaign; Farage stands |
| W29 | 2024-07-12 | 29,870 | 2.86 | 1.0 | 3.42 | 63.6% | 16.1% | 20.3% | 46.6% | 6.4% | Post-2024 GE; Farage elected (Clacton) |
| W30 | 2025-05-12 | 29,319 | 3.11 | 2.0 | 3.50 | 60.4% | 16.7% | 22.9% | 44.0% | 6.9% | Reform UK rising; post-election |
British Election Study Internet Panel, 2014–2025. Principal Investigators: Ed Fieldhouse, Jane Green, Geoffrey Evans, Jonathan Mellon, Chris Prosser, Jack Bailey. Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Fieldwork by YouGov.
"How much do you like or dislike each of the following party leaders? Please rate each on a scale from 0 to 10 where 0 means strongly dislike and 10 means strongly like."
Responses coded 9999 (34,001 total) are treated as missing per BES
data conventions and excluded from all calculations. NA values are
also excluded. The remaining valid responses per wave range from 9,924 to 36,148.
The dataset does not include Farage ratings for Waves 12, 13, 14, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26. In some of these waves the like/dislike question may not have been asked for Farage, or the data was not included in this extract. The gap between Wave 21 (May 2021) and Wave 27 (May 2024) represents a three-year break in coverage.
The BES panel suffers from cumulative attrition. Wave 16 included a panel refresh. Attrition may introduce survivorship bias. BES provides survey weights (not applied here) to mitigate this.
Generated 12 Feb 2026 from BES Internet Panel data (Farage.csv). Unweighted results.
Citation: Fieldhouse, E., Green, J., Evans, G., Mellon, J., Prosser, C.,
Bailey, J. (2025). British Election Study Internet Panel Waves 1–30.