The Reform company has made gains in the UK local elections. Which is prompting disappointed progressive-types to ask “Why are people voting for Farage?” Here are a few reasons why.
Thanks for the analysis. I find it really frustrating that some people on lower incomes apparently can't see that voting for Reform is in direct opposition to their best interests. Instead they go along with the "bash Labour/Starmer" line that is being peddled by the right wing press & social media. Whereas Labour has in fact introduced a number of progressive policies over the last couple of years which will directly benefit the working class.
It's an uphill struggle for Labour, and the message is not getting across that they care about those turning to Reform.
If they can reduce inequality visibly, then a charismatic Labour leader may be able to cut through... but that would require the redistribution of wealth, which is not popular among their business-friendly Starmer-ite "adults in the room", as far as I can tell.
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Re: "frustrating that some people on lower incomes apparently can't see that voting for Reform is in direct opposition to their best interests"
Reform voters are intelligent. They know their best interests, it's touched on in this point:
"Status within these voters’ hierarchical zero-sum idea of society depends on there being people “beneath them”. Makes them more open to racist / veiled racist messaging."
In a society with little social mobility, where "nothing changes" when the gov changes, not being at the "bottom of the pile" is important.
Farage offers status to his voters, not by improving working people's material conditions (because that's "impossible" - see austerity etc), but by giving them someone to look down upon.
Yes I take your point, negative news has been shown to have twice as much emotional impact as positive news. Unfortunately the consequences of initiatives such as Brexit and 14 years of Tory austerity have further impoverished the working class and fuelled the sense of anger/despair that Farage is now exploiting. I can only hope that in time, people living under Reform controlled councils come to realise that the party is very much not in their interests.
Gross domestic product discredited as a measure of progress.
"Gabriel Zucman, an economist at University of California, Berkeley and the Paris School of Economics, said that while in the postwar decades GDP growth numbers were broadly indicative of how income was growing for most of the population, “today, there is a total disconnect between macroeconomic indicators and the reality of income gains for most people”."
Thanks for the analysis. I find it really frustrating that some people on lower incomes apparently can't see that voting for Reform is in direct opposition to their best interests. Instead they go along with the "bash Labour/Starmer" line that is being peddled by the right wing press & social media. Whereas Labour has in fact introduced a number of progressive policies over the last couple of years which will directly benefit the working class.
Wake up people!
Hi Dave
It's an uphill struggle for Labour, and the message is not getting across that they care about those turning to Reform.
If they can reduce inequality visibly, then a charismatic Labour leader may be able to cut through... but that would require the redistribution of wealth, which is not popular among their business-friendly Starmer-ite "adults in the room", as far as I can tell.
=======
Re: "frustrating that some people on lower incomes apparently can't see that voting for Reform is in direct opposition to their best interests"
Reform voters are intelligent. They know their best interests, it's touched on in this point:
"Status within these voters’ hierarchical zero-sum idea of society depends on there being people “beneath them”. Makes them more open to racist / veiled racist messaging."
In a society with little social mobility, where "nothing changes" when the gov changes, not being at the "bottom of the pile" is important.
Farage offers status to his voters, not by improving working people's material conditions (because that's "impossible" - see austerity etc), but by giving them someone to look down upon.
Yes I take your point, negative news has been shown to have twice as much emotional impact as positive news. Unfortunately the consequences of initiatives such as Brexit and 14 years of Tory austerity have further impoverished the working class and fuelled the sense of anger/despair that Farage is now exploiting. I can only hope that in time, people living under Reform controlled councils come to realise that the party is very much not in their interests.
Gross domestic product discredited as a measure of progress.
"Gabriel Zucman, an economist at University of California, Berkeley and the Paris School of Economics, said that while in the postwar decades GDP growth numbers were broadly indicative of how income was growing for most of the population, “today, there is a total disconnect between macroeconomic indicators and the reality of income gains for most people”."
https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2026/may/15/wealth-britain-billionaires-gdp-rich-list-inequality