A new survey has revealed that Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform UK party, has reached a record low in public favorability, according to YouGov, a well-known polling company. Nearly seven in ten Britons (69%) now have an unfavorable view of Farage, marking the highest level recorded by YouGov in its ten-year tracking of his popularity. This includes almost six in ten (57%) who have a very unfavorable opinion of him, while only 24% view him favorably. His net favorability rating—calculated by subtracting the percentage of people who view him negatively from those who view him positively—is now -45, matching the rating of former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer just before he stepped down. This is a significant drop from a net rating of -31 at the same time last year. Despite some gains in local and devolved elections this May, Reform UK has faced ongoing challenges. The party has been embroiled in controversy over allegations of illegal donations to Farage, and it has also lost some support to the right-wing Restore Britain party, led by Rupert Lowe. Additionally, the party has seen a decline in voting intention polls since Andy Burnham became leader. Burnham currently holds a net favorability rating of +7, with 46% of Britons viewing him favorably and 39% unfavorably. The situation worsened when a major donations scandal overshadowed Farage’s planned keynote speech at Reform’s annual conference in Birmingham. Allegations that the party accepted illegal foreign donations led to the resignations of Farage’s chief of staff, Dan Jukes, and policy director James Orr. The conference, which was intended to focus on Reform’s plans for its “first 100 days” in government, instead became dominated by questions about the scandal and whether Farage could recover from yet another controversy. Recently, the Metropolitan Police confirmed it has launched a criminal investigation into claims that Reform UK violated donation rules by accepting illegal foreign funding. This follows complaints from Labour and the Liberal Democrats about video evidence obtained by Channel 4 and the investigative group Verbatim through a sting operation. However, the party has also received significant financial support, with two cryptocurrency billionaires, Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo, each donating £36 million to Reform UK. This amounts to three-quarters of the total amount spent by all political parties in the last general election. While Reform says the donations will be used to prepare for office, critics argue that such large sums highlight the need for limits on political donations. Meanwhile, the House of Lords is expected to debate proposals for a donation cap as part of the Representation of the People Bill, which aims to restrict foreign donations but has not yet included a general cap on contributions.