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Tim Farron’s leadership is “flatlining” with the public after his first year in charge, a crushing poll reveals today.

The Liberal Democrat leader’s personal ratings are at the same level as when he took over last September.

Fewer than one in four think he is doing a good job, while almost half say they dislike him.

At the same time his party is bumping along at rock bottom, actively disliked by around four in 10 people and with a meagre six per cent of people saying they would vote Lib Dem in a general election.

The dismal verdict on the day of his big speech to party conference suggests it could take years to recover from the damage inflicted to its popularity during five years of Coalition with the Conservatives.

Despite Mr Farron’s energetic style of campaigning, many people seem to be unaware of or indifferent towards him.

Asked if they were happy with his performance, 45 per cent responded that they didn’t know, including one in three Lib Dem supporters.

Only 22 per cent are satisfied with the way Mr Farron is doing his job, while 33 per cent are dissatisfied. Even among Liberal Democrat supporters, just under half are happy with him.

Mr Farron is even less popular than his party. Just 23 per cent like him, compared with 28 per cent who like the Lib Dems. Some 46 per cent dislike him, while 41 per cent dislike his party.

The scores are a long way from the sky-high ratings that Nick Clegg enjoyed before he went into a power-sharing government with David Cameron.

Mr Farron arouses less hostility than his predecessor did during the Coalition years, but also less warmth, which suggests he is simply being ignored by a significant share of the population.

Gideon Skinner, head of political research at Ipsos MORI, said: “As a sign of the hard times facing the Liberal Democrats, they have been in single figures in our voting intentions for 26 of the last 30 months. Before 2011, they had not been in single figures for twenty years.”