Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, boasts a surge in membership, claiming over 165,000 members. While the party projects a strong electoral presence for upcoming local elections, doubts remain about their ability to translate this membership into an effective 'ground game'.
The right wing party says it has tens of thousands of more members than the Tories. But will they really be able to improve its electoral ' ground game '? Nigel Farage was able to boast about how his Reform UK party hitting 100,000 members in November. Now it claims to have more than 165,000. The party apparently put on more than 33,000 members to achieve a total that had passed 165,000 by Thursday evening.
If the current ticker rate continued it would double the Tory total well before the end of January. It is understood that Reform’s own projections are a little more cautious, but they still expect a membership twice as big as the Conservatives’ last recorded total in time for the May local elections. Internally, there is even a belief that Reform could eclipse Labour’s 366,000 members by the next general election. Publicly, Reform’s top brass are reluctant to set such ambitious goals. But Farage is already boasting about how much his new recruits are swelling party coffers, telling claims that a legion of activists willing to knock on doors and deliver leaflets will transform Reform’s “ground game” for the local elections. However, independent research suggests that rather than acquiring new boots on the ground, Farage could instead be amassing an army of keyboard warriors. Reform members are less willing to pound the pavements during election campaigns than those in other parties. If the same holds true for its new recruits – and an academic behind the research thinks it will – then it could mute the impact of Reform’s membership surge in terms of conventional campaign techniques. Farage says the recruitment blitz is part of a wider effort to build an election-winning machine in time for local council and mayoral contests in less than four months’ time
Reform UK Nigel Farage Membership Local Elections Ground Game
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