Ukip Voters Risk Losing Friends as Farage's Party is Rated Most Toxic

Voting for Ukip is a good way to lose friends, despite the fact the party is rising up the polls and triumphed at last week's by-election in Rochester and Strood.

Nearly a quarter of voters (24%) admitted they would struggle to remain friends with someone who voted for Ukip, according to a survey by YouGov.

Pollsters invited respondents to imagine one of their good friend declaring their support for Ukip, and asked them whether this would cause a disagreement and put the friendship in jeopardy.

The YouGov survey makes Ukip more than three times as toxic as the next in line, the Conservative party. Seven percent of respondents said they would reconsider their friendship with someone who came out as a Tory supporter.

However, it should be noted the vast majority of people (60%) said voting Ukip would make no difference to their relationship with friends.

Of the other parties, Labour was the least toxic, even at a time when leader Ed Miliband and his frontbench team are struggling to connect with voters. Only 3% of respondents said they would find it hard to stay friends with a Labour voter.

Also low in terms of toxicity was the Green party with 4%. Only one in 20 voters said voting Liberal Democrat would cause them to ditch a friend.