2013 Economist/Ipsos Aggregate Issues Index data

Public Sector

Ipsos's aggregated data from all 12 months of our Issues Index surveys, with the top 10 most important issues (along with EU/Europe) broken down by gender, by age, ethnicity, social class and by voting intention. This is based on a total of more than 10,000 interviews, aggregated from the 12 individual polls.

 

2013 Issues Index Aggregate data

The table below shows Ipsos's aggregated data from all 12 months of our Issues Index surveys, with the top 10 most important issues (along with EU/Europe) broken down by gender, by age, ethnicity, social class and by voting intention. This is based on a total of more than 10,000 interviews, aggregated from the 12 individual polls.

 

Some headline findings are as follows;

  • The economy remained the most important issue throughout 2013, however the level of concern has dropped by eleven percentage points since 2012, to 47%. Conservative voters, ABs, and those in the South East remain more concerned than average (56%, 57% and 52% respectively), but their level of concern has fallen by around ten percentage points when compared against results for 2012.

  • Race relations/immigration has displaced unemployment as the second most important issue, rising by 12 percentage points since 2012 to 33%. Conservative voters are more likely than Labour or Lib Dem voters to raise this as an issue (45% to 23% and 27%), but they trail far behind UKIP voters, of whom seven in ten (70%) cite race/immigration as a big issue for Britain.

  • In line with last year, black and minority ethnic respondents remained particularly concerned with unemployment. Indeed it was the most important issue for this group, mentioned by 49%– significantly more than for white respondents (29%).

  • Concern about the NHS has risen moderately since 2012, with a quarter (24%) citing it as an issue, compared to a fifth (19%) last year. Concern has risen fairly evenly across the board, with older participants and those from higher social grades the most likely to list the NHS as an issue.

  • Finally, there has been a small decrease in concern about crime, from 18% in 2012 to 15% this year. Concern has dropped across most demographic breaks, with a small increase amongst 18-24 year olds. Concern about crime amongst this age break has risen two percentage points, from 16% to 18%.

Issues  Economy Race/ Immigrat ion Unemploy ment NHS/ Health Crime/ Law and Order Education/ Schools Inflation/ Prices Poverty/ Inequality Pensions/ Benefits Housing EU/ Europe
  % % % % %  % % % % %  %
All 47 33 31 24 15 14 14 13 11 10 7
Gender
Male 51 34 32 20 14 12 14 12 9 9 9
Female 44 31 30 28 15 16 14 15 13 12 5
Age
18-24 42 21 37 14 18 12 15 11 8 12 4
25-34 44 24 33 16 14 11 17 14 9 13 4
35-44 52 29 33 27 15 19 14 15 11 11 4
45-54 53 36 32 30 16 17 14 14 13 10 7
55-64 47 39 31 28 14 14 12 13 14 9 9
65+ 44 42 24 26 13 11 10 11 12 7 11
Voting Intention
Con 56 45 23 26 16 15 10 6 13 7 11
Lab 48 23 39 26 15 16 15 17 11 12 4
Lib Dem 54 27 27 27 11 22 9 16 13 8 7
UKIP 51 70 23 21 13 9 12 8 12 10 20
Social Grade
AB 57 29 27 31 13 23 10 16 13 8 10
C1 52 32 29 25 15 15 13 12 11 10 6
C2 42 38 34 21 16 9 18 11 11 12 6
DE 35 32 35 17 16 7 15 13 10 11 4
Age within Social Grade
18-34 ABC1 48 20 32 19 14 16 15 14 9 11 5
18-34 C2DE 38 25 38 11 17 7 18 11 8 15 3
35-54 ABC1 60 30 30 33 15 24 12 16 13 9 6
35-54 C2DE 43 36 36 22 17 10 18 14 10 12 4
55+ ABC1 53 39 24 29 13 16 8 13 13 8 13
55+ C2DE 35 43 30 24 15 7 14 11 14 8 8
Ethnicity
White 48 35 29 25 15 14 13 13 12 10 7
BME 39 13 49 15 17 11 20 13 4 13 2

Region

 
Wales 49 31 38 27 10 12 16 15 12 12 4
Scotland 41 21 32 19 17 9 17 17 12 9 5
North of England 44 33 33 20 15 13 13 14 11 8 6
Midlands 44 38 30 24 15 13 12 10 11 8 7
South including London 52 32 30 27 15 17 14 14 11 14 8

Base: 11,671 GB adults aged 18+

Source: Economist/Ipsos

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