All parties seen to promise anything to get votes
Ipsos's April 2015 Political Monitor looks at how British voters perceive both the main political parties and their leaders.
Most Britons don’t know what Lib Dems stand for but Labour, Conservatives and UKIP have clearer message
No political party is seen to keep its promises according to new polling by Ipsos. In the new survey the public were asked to apply a series of favourable and unfavourable statements to each of the parties. When asked about ‘keeping promises’ one in four (24%) said this applies to Labour followed by 23% saying it applies to the Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats and UKIP also score low on this with just 17% saying the Lib Dems keep their promises and 13% say that UKIP do.
Similarly most Britons believe all of them ‘will promise anything to win votes’. 63% of the public believe both Labour and the Conservatives will promise anything to get elected. 57% say the Lib Dems will promise anything while 55% say UKIP will do the same. When it comes to being ‘fit to govern’ half the public (50%) see this applying to the Conservatives compared to four in 10 (40%) who see Labour in the same light. Just 23% say the same about the Lib Dems although they’ve improved by 5 points (from 18%) in September. One in 11 (9%) believe UKIP are ‘fit to govern’. The Conservatives also outperform their rivals as the party with a ‘good team of leaders’ where 44% say this applies to the Tories and 28% say this is true of Labour. Three in 10 (29%) believe the Lib Dems have a ‘good team of leaders’ (up from 20% in September). 17% say UKIP have a ‘good team of leaders’ (down 7 points from September). Labour however score best when it comes to ‘looking after the interests of people like me’ with 43% of the public saying this applies to the party. 38% say the Lib Dems look after interests of people like them and one in three (33%) say the same for the Conservatives. One in five (20%) believe UKIP look after the interests of people like them. Labour is also seen as the party that bests ‘understands the problems facing Britain’ by more than half the public (52%) with the Conservatives and Lib Dems trailing behind (45% and 44% respectively). Three in 10 members of the public think UKIP understands the problems facing Britain.
The research also shows how successful the parties and leaders are in getting their message across. Just three in ten (31%) say they don’t know what the Conservatives stand for (down from 44% in October 2012) while 34% say they don’t know what David Cameron stands for (similar to October 2013). 43% say they don’t know what Labour stand for (down from 57% in October 2012) and 38% don’t know what Ed Miliband stands for (down from 45% in October 2013). Nick Clegg and the Lid Dems however are seen as less clear with 58% not knowing what the party stands for and 53% not knowing what Mr. Clegg stands for. UKIP’s message however is well known to the public where just one on three (34%) say they don’t know what the party stands for and three in 10 (29%) say they don’t know what Mr Farage stands for.
"As the campaign gets going, the public feels all the main parties have sharpened up their message – as have Ed Miliband and Nigel Farage from their previous ratings on clarity of message as leaders – but there is still much scepticism towards Westminster. Party image can be just as important as leader image, if not more so, but all the parties have a challenge to change the public’s perception of them, with the Conservatives ahead on competence and capability, but Labour ahead on understanding and being on your side."
Downloads
Technical note
- Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,000 adults aged 18+ across Great Britain.
- Interviews were conducted by telephone 12-15 April 2015.
- Data is weighted to match the profile of the population.
More insights about Public Sector
