Attitudes to a Hung Parliament

(See also Coalition preferences in the event of a hung Parliament)

1978-9

Q Do you think it will be a good thing or a bad thing for the country if no party achieves an overall majority?

	11 September 1978	16-17 April 1979
	%	%
Good thing	14	20
Bad thing	73	65
Don't know	15	15

Base: c. 1,200 GB adults aged 18+

1983

Q Do you think it will be a good thing or a bad thing for the country if no party achieves an overall majority?

	12 May 1983
	%
Good thing	21
Bad thing	63
Don't know	16

Base: 964 GB adults aged 18+

1986-7

Q Suppose no party achieves an overall majority in the next general election sufficient to be able to carry out its policies without the support of other parties. Do you think it would be a good thing or a bad thing for the country ?

	June 1986	15-18 August 1986	17-21 October 1986	9-13 December 1986	20-25 February 1987	24-28 April 1987
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Good thing	28	29	26	27	30	27
Bad thing	50	51	52	49	48	54
Neither	6	6	5	6	6	5
Don't know	16	14	17	17	15	13

Base: c. 1,750 GB adults aged 18+

1992

Q On balance, do you think that a hung Parliament, with no party having an overall majority, would be good or bad for Britain?

	30 March 1992
	%
Good for Britain	26
Bad for Britain	58
Don't know	18

Base: 1,080 GB adults aged 18+

2010-14 - national polls

Q (Pre-election) Do you think it will be a good thing or a bad thing for the country if no party achieves an overall majority? Q (Post-election) As you may know, the general election on May 6th resulted in a hung parliament where no party had an overall majority. Do you think it is a good thing or a bad thing for the country that no party achieved an overall majority?

	Pre-election		Post election
	23 April 2010*	5 May 2010	12-13 May 2010	12-14 November 2010	15-17 April    2011**	11-14 January 2014**
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Good thing	34	30	40	38	34	32
Bad thing	57	55	52	55	58	60
Don't know	9	15	8	7	8	8

Base: c. 1,000-1,200 GB adults aged 18+

*Asked as "Thinking about the outcome of the election on May 6th, do you think ...?"

**Asked as "As you will know...?"

2010 - polls in marginal constituencies

Q Do you think it will be a good thing or a bad thing for the country if no party achieves an overall majority?

	16-19 April 2010	23-26 April 2010	30 April- 2 May 2010
	%	%	%
Good thing	43	37	35
Bad thing	48	53	54
Don't know	9	9	10

Base: c. 1,000 adults aged 18+ in Labour-held constituencies vulnerable to the Conservatives on a 5%-9% swing

 

2014

Q Thinking about the next general election, do you think it will be a good thing or a bad thing for the country if no party achieves an overall majority?

	11-14 January 2014
	%
Good thing	26
Bad thing	65
Don't know	9

 

Q Regardless of your personal views of coalitions, how likely or unlikely do you think it is that there will be another coalition government after the next general election?

	11-14 January 2014
	%
Very likely	14
Fairly likely	37
Fairly unlikely	29
Very unlikely	16
Don't know	4
Very/fairly likely	51
Very/fairly unlikely	45