Zack Polanski has fallen behind Nigel Farage in public approval, according to new polling published on the eve of the Green Party leader’s attempt to capture the former parliamentary seat of Sir Keir Starmer.
A More in Common survey found Polanski to be the least popular leader of a major UK political party, with his net approval rating falling four points to minus 28.
That puts him below Reform UK leader Farage, whose rating stands at minus 24. By contrast, Andy Burnham has seen his net approval rise five points to plus 16, while Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has gained two points to reach plus 2.
The figures underline the political challenge facing Polanski as voters in Holborn and St Pancras prepare to decide whether to elect him as their new MP following Starmer’s decision to step down.
Only 16 per cent of voters surveyed said Polanski was doing a good job as Green leader, while 43 per cent said he was doing a bad job.
Farage was viewed positively by 28 per cent, compared with 52 per cent who said he was performing badly.
The polling comes at an awkward moment for the Greens, whose attempt to turn the by-election into a test of their growing national support has been overshadowed by an increasingly divisive internal row over Zionism and Israel.
Green Party members voted at their conference in Brighton to declare Zionism should be “treated as any other form of racism”, while formally describing the party as anti-Zionist.
The motion also supports the establishment of a “single democratic Palestinian state in all of its historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital”.
The decision has exposed tensions within the party. The deputy leader of the Wales Green Party resigned on Tuesday, saying he had left the organisation after seven years.
Polanski abstained from the vote because he had already left the conference to return to campaigning in Holborn and St Pancras.
In a statement after the vote, he sought to draw a distinction between opposition to Zionism and antisemitism.
“Antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli state are, and must always be, completely distinct – blurring the line between the two is not only wrong but antisemitic, and makes Jewish people less safe,” he said.
He also said the Green Party would “not accept any exclusion” of people on the basis of religion.
But the controversy has continued to grow, with reports that Lubna Speitan, the member behind the motion, has an alleged association with Minh Quang Pham, an al-Qaeda operative convicted in the United States over a plot targeting passengers arriving from Israel at Heathrow.
According to reports cited by The Telegraph, court documents described Speitan and Pham as “close friends”. Speitan is also reported to have offered to provide evidence for his defence.
The Green Party has said it “takes all allegations of this nature seriously” and has internal processes for investigating members whose views or conduct are considered inconsistent with party values.
The allegations remain separate from the question of the party’s policy on Zionism, but their emergence has added further pressure on Polanski ahead of the by-election.
Polanski himself appeared to temper expectations over the contest, saying his position as Green leader “doesn’t depend on it [winning the by-election] whatsoever”.
The polling therefore presents a difficult backdrop for a party attempting to convert its recent electoral momentum into a breakthrough in Westminster.
The Holborn and St Pancras contest is being watched closely as a test of whether the Greens can translate national attention into votes — and whether Polanski can overcome a sharp deterioration in his personal standing just as his party faces one of its most consequential internal disputes.
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