Reform UK’s support is more than a ‘protest’ vote, research suggests
Christopher McKeon, Press Association Political Correspondent
The latest British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey found Reform voters were most distinguished by their cultural attitudes, suggesting support for the party was more than a “protest” vote.
Pollster and BSA co-author Sir John Curtice said Reform supporters were “deeply ideological” and had “a level of emotional attachment that neither Labour nor the Conservatives have managed to inspire in voters for decades”.
The BSA survey did find Reform supporters were more dissatisfied with the state of the country and their personal circumstances than other voters.
Some 60% of Reform voters were “very dissatisfied” with the NHS, compared to 51% of the general public, while 27% said they were “struggling” on their current household income – five points more than the figure for the general public.
But they stood out far more on cultural issues, with 75% saying migrants undermined Britain’s culture. Just 35% of the general public said the same.
Some 88% said equal opportunities for transgender people had gone too far and 78% said benefits for the unemployed were too high.
The figures for the general public were 48% and 60% respectively.
Sir John said the roots of the party’s support lay in the vote to leave the EU in 2016, describing this as “motivated by cultural questions of national identity, immigration, and pride in British history”.
The survey found 49% of people who would vote to stay out of the EU backed Reform, while the party’s support reflected the coalition that voted Leave – being older, male and less likely to have gone to university.
Sir John said: “Reform has effectively absorbed the coalition of voters that voted in 2019 for Boris Johnson to ‘get Brexit done’.
“The party’s future prospects do not simply rest on whether the economy and the health service are turned around and whether by the time of the next election voters become more satisfied with how they are being governed.
“They also rest heavily on whether it can continue to persuade Britain’s more socially conservative voters that it best represents their views.”
The BSA survey, carried out annually since 1983 by the National Centre for Social Research, surveyed 4,656 people across the UK. The most recent version took place between August and October 2025.
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So the people who voted to shoot themselves in the foot wrt Brexit are disatisfied with their lives as a result so they’ve decided to shoot themelves in the other foot by supporting the very cretins who are the cause of their pain.
They’re not a very bright bunch. We truly are living in an idiocracy.
I’m not sure why it’s taken some people so long to work this out. Millions in the UK believe that we should be more selective about who we let in, and that illegal immigrants should be detained and deported in short order. They think the ridiculous gender woo woo should be outlawed, along with all other DEI nonsense, they think that Net Zero is an idiotic act of economic suicide. It matters not whether you agree with any of these opinions; the fact is that they are held by millions of perfectly rational and intelligent people. So ask yourself this… Read more »
Bashing trans people and immigrants will definitely improve your material conditions. Nothing quite says taking on the elites like… punching down against those who have the least power.
I say this as a white working class man who finds it appalling how fellow working class people are talked down to and manipulated by millionaires into believing the very existence of marginalised minority groups is economically and socially problematic.