Audit of Political Engagement

The Audit of Political Engagement is an annual survey measuring the nature and extent of political engagement among adults in the UK, undertaken by the Hansard Society and conducted by Ipsos.

This is the eleventh year of the Audit, making it a unique resource to those studying public attitudes to politics and Parliament over the past decade. This year the survey asked questions about Prime Minister’s Question Time (PMQs) and the European Parliamentary Elections, in addition to the trend questions about political interest and engagement.

• The Hansard Society’s report on the Audit is available from their website.
• There is also a dedicated microsite for the results.

Key findings include:

Public attitudes to and interest in politics

• 50% say they are fairly or very interested in politics
• 48% say they feel they know a fair amount or a great deal about the UK Parliament
• 33% feel that the system of governing Britain works well

Prime Minister’s Question time (PMQs)

• 54% say they have watched or seen clips of PMQs in the past year
• 67% agree there is too much party political point scoring instead of answering the question
• 40% agree that it deals with the important issues facing the country

Conduct and accountability

• 77% agree that politicians should have to undertake regular ethics and standards training
• 67% agree that “politicians don’t understand the daily lives of people like me”
• 62% agree that politicians in the past were not better than today; they just didn’t face the same media scrutiny
• 21% agree that politicians are behaving in a more professional way than they were a few years ago
• 44% think that biannual open meetings would be an effective way to hold MPs to account
• 42% say that the right to recall MPs would be an effective way of holding politicians to account

European Parliamentary Elections

• 77% agree that they know less about the issues in a European Parliamentary Election than at a General Election
• 71% say they understand more about how General elections work than elections to the European Parliament
• 61% agree that their vote matters more at a General Election than it does in an election for the European Parliament

Downloads

• Download the computer tables (PDF)

Technical note

Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,286 adults aged 18+ across Great Britain. Interviews were conducted face-to-face in-home between 6th and 12th December 2013 across Great Britain. Data are weighted to match the profile of the population.