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At their peak UKIP were polling at 24-25% and Nigel Farage's net approval rating was higher than other party leader's. So what happened?

A steady and inexorable decline?

In this week's exclusive Survation poll for the Daily Mirror UKIP support is down to 18% from a peak of 24% at the end of last year.

Is this part of a trend? 18% is still high but if we look at the bigger picture, almost all polling organisations have Farage’s party on the decline, although with considerable variation on the shares (ComRes puts UKIP at 10% this week).

There's a possibility that UKIP's support isn't actually declining but rather going back to normal levels after peaking when former Conservative MPs Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless’s defected to the party and won two seats for the people's army.

People seem to like Farage less

Nigel Farage has always been the party's trump card - but even Farage's approval rating have dropped by 13 percentage points since January.

In contrast both Cameron and Miliband's are up by 5 and 10 points respectively.

But the recent EU scandal hasn't affected them

One thing seems clear: the drop appears to have nothing to do with Janice Atkinson's expulsion from the party following allegations that she asked for an inflated receipt at a restaurant to get more out of her expenses claim.

Voters were asked about the scandal and they resoundingly don't care: less than 10% of UKIP supporters said the scandal had made them less likely to vote for the party and that is from an extremely small sample. Perhaps facetiously, 27% said the news had made them more likely to vote for UKIP.

But for 63.5% it had made no difference whatsoever.

Pollsters say the the party appears in fact to be scandal-proof - something the Lib Dems and the Greens (Natalie Bennett's recent interview comes to mind) can't claim.

Whatever the reason - the Conservatives are gaining from this

Whatever is causing the drop - the Conservatives are picking up ground with some speculating this is happening on the back of UKIP's loss of support.

Our poll this week found that the Tories are closing the gap with Labour, although they are still neck and neck.

poll loading Do you think UKIP support is declining? 500+ VOTES SO FAR No - that's just what the mainstream media want you to believe Yes - with the election approaching people are running away from the little parties

[Source: Survation, UK Polling Report]