Does Farage Have a Trump Problem?

TL;DR

Farage's close alignment with Trump is hurting Reform UK as Trump's UK favorability hits -70 and British public opinion diverges sharply from Trumpian policies.

Key Points

• 1.Trump is deeply unpopular in the UK. Statista put Trump's net favorability at -70 in February 2025, with 81% of Brits holding an unfavorable opinion — and the number is worsening as the Iran conflict escalates.
• 2.Farage badly misjudged the Iran war. He initially said the UK should 'do all we can to support' Trump's strikes, then U-turned after 59% of Brits were found to oppose the action, then reversed again — exposing a pattern of reactive positioning.
• 3.Reform's polling has fallen from its 30% peak in October 2024. Multiple factors are cited, including Farage's Trump affiliation, the Epstein files controversy, US deportation deaths, and Farage's personal 'schoolboy racism' scandal hurting moderate right-wing voters.
• 4.Britain is less anti-immigration than Trump's base. The UK ranks second globally in trusting people of other nationalities, and hard-right voters together make up only 27% of the British electorate versus 50% who voted Trump in the US.
• 5.Reform is copying Trumpian strategies without adapting them to the UK. Leaning into Christianity is misfit in a country where only 46.2% identify as Christian and 37.2% claim no religion — even prompting outrage from Church of England groups.