Support for Reform is much more than a protest vote, finds new British Social Attitudes research

• Although Reform supporters are particularly unhappy about the state of Britain, the
  party’s rise is much more than a ‘protest’ vote.
• Reform supporters are distinguished above all by their attitudes on cultural issues.
• Public confidence in universities has plummeted, with the proportion of people who believe a degree is not worth the time and money now at a record high.

London, UK, Tuesday 2nd June – The rise of Reform UK to top spot in the polls is substantially
driven by ideology, and not simply by discontent with public services and the economy. So
reports the latest British Social Attitudes survey (BSA) from the National Centre for Social
Research (NatCen). At the same time, new findings from the survey reveal that the public have
become much more sceptical about the benefit of going to university.

Reform supporters tend to be more unhappy about the state of the country and their personal
circumstances.

• 60% of Reform supporters are ‘very dissatisfied’ with the NHS, compared with 51% of the
  general public.
• In 2024, 75% of Reform supporters said that the system of governing Britain needs ‘a
  great deal’ of improvement, almost twice the proportion (39%) among all respondents.
• Among Reform supporters, 27% say they are ‘struggling’ on their current household
  income, five points above the figure for the general public (22%).

However, Reform supporters are even more distinctive in their attitudes. They are especially
conservative on ‘cultural’ issues. They are also more critical of welfare.

• Nearly three-quarters (75%) believe migrants who come to Britain undermine the
  country’s culture. Only 35% of the general public agree with them.
• 88% of Reform supporters believe attempts to give equal opportunities to transgender
  people have ‘gone too far’ Only 48% of all people in Britain agree.
• Over three-quarters (78%) of Reform supporters say that ‘benefits for unemployed
  people are too high’, compared with 60% of the general public.

Meanwhile, support for the party stands at 49% among those who would vote to stay out of the
EU. In contrast, just 9% of those who would vote to rejoin back Reform. As a result, the
demography of the party’s support is very similar to that of the Leave vote in 2016.

• 40% of those whose highest educational qualification is less than an ‘A’ level support
  Reform. Just 9% of graduates do so.
• 27% of those aged 55 and over support Reform, but only 18% of those aged 18-34.
• 28% of men support the party, compared with 19% of women.

Although Reform supporters are somewhat to the right on economic issues, they are far less
different from the general public on these issues. For example, Reform supporters (32%) are just
ten points less likely than the public in general (42%) to feel there is ‘quite a lot’ of child poverty
in Britain today. In contrast, only 22% of Conservative supporters express that view.

Sir John Curtice, Senior Research Fellow at NatCen and BSA co-author, said:

“Voters haven’t swung towards Reform simply because of dissatisfaction with ailing public
services and economic stagnation. The party’s supporters are deeply ideological and have a level
of emotional attachment that neither Labour nor the Conservatives have managed to inspire in
voters for decades.”

“The roots of the party’s support lie in the vote to Leave the EU, a vote that was motivated by
cultural questions of national identity, immigration, and pride in British history. Ten years on
from the referendum, these issues continue to disrupt British politics. In particular, 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 also examined British people’s views on higher education, finding that confidence in
the value of a degree has fallen considerably over the past 20 years.

The proportion of people who believe a degree is not worth the time and money has hit a record
high (14% in 2005 vs 34% in 2025). Moreover, the proportion who believe that, in the long run,
people who go to universities end up being a lot better off, has fallen (50% in 2005 vs 36% in
2025). The public is evenly divided on whether there are too many graduates in the economy, and
those who have graduated are more likely than non-graduates to think there are too many.

The findings suggest that government policy – including expanding the number of people
attending university, tuition fee reforms and loan repayment policy – has had an impact on
people’s views. Younger graduates, with experience of the tuition fee system, are more
disillusioned than graduates who did not pay fees, according to the survey.

Alex Scholes, Research Director at NatCen and BSA co-author, said:

“Universities are not just education institutions, they are engines of social mobility and economic growth, and play a vital role in defining Britain’s cultural role on the world stage. They are also under immense financial pressure, and it appears recent debates about the fairness of student loan repayment systems and the role of AI on the job market have filtered through to people’s views about the value of a degree. If public confidence continues to fall, we risk seeing the financial situation become even worse.”

ENDS

Notes to editor

About the British Social Attitudes survey

The British Social Attitudes survey (BSA) is the UK's longest-running survey of social and
political attitudes, conducted annually by NatCen since 1983.

Methodology

Fieldwork for the British Social Attitudes survey took place between 26 August and 6 October
2025. BSA was conducted using a push-to-web design, with a telephone option for those either
unwilling or unable to take part online. Addresses from across the United Kingdom, including
Northern Ireland were randomly sampled from the Postcode Address File (PAF). At each
selected address up to two adults aged 16 and over were invited to take part in the survey. In
total, 4,656 fully completed interviews were obtained, with an individual response rate of 11.7%
and a household response rate of 16.6%.

BSA was conducted using face-to-face interviewing between 1983 and 2019, and shifted to the
current push-to-web design from 2020 onwards.

About NatCen

The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) is an independent, not-for-profit
organisation and the UK's largest centre for independent social research.