The kids love Nigel Farage

No wonder Rishi Sunak wanted to conscript the young. A recent JLP poll has shown that, among 16 to 17-year-olds that Reform UK is more popular than the Tories. With 23% support, Reform came in behind Labour at 39%, with the Greens on 18%. The Tories, meanwhile, are on a measly 5%.

NEW JLP @TheSun: Reform in 2nd place with 16/17 year olds, joint-1st with males

All 16/17s:

LAB: 39%
REFORM: 23%
GRN: 18%
LDEM: 9%
CON: 5%

Males:

REF: 35%
LAB: 35%
LDEM: 11%
CON: 11%
GRN: 2%

Females:

LAB: 43%
GRN: 33%
REF: 12%
LDEM: 8%
CON: 0%https://t.co/b4aoYq3u56

— JLP (@JLPartnersPolls) July 2, 2024

 The really shocking stats, however, arise along the gender divide. For males, Reform and Labour are joint top on 35% while the Conservative Party does slightly better than it previously did on 11%.

For females, the Tories are on a deadly 0%. Although much has been written about the political divide between the sexes with young women being more Left-wing and young men on the Right, Reform is still at 12% among the female cohort.

The stats say extending the franchise to 16-year-olds would add 1.5 million people to the electorate. Anyone willing to do the maths to see how many extra fans Farage would have?

---