Before And After: The perception gap
Does giving voters the facts on issues like the NHS change their views? Up to a point
In the run up to the general election, surveys of British opinion have been showing a "perception gap" over public services -- a divergence between the personal experience people report and their views of the trend in the quality of services generally.
While they are likely to be satisfied with their local school or hospital, they regard the education system and the NHS as a whole more negatively.
This article was written for the April 2005 issue of160Prospect160magazine.
