British Public Opinion, March 1979

MORI interviewed a representative interlocking quota sample of 1,085 adults aged 18+. Interviews were conducted face-to-face in 54 constituency sampling points across Great Britain on 3-5 March 1979.

Q1 Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way the government is running the country? Q2 Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Mr Callaghan is doing his job as Prime Minister? Q3 Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Mrs Thatcher is doing her job as Leader of the Opposition? Q4 Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Mr Steel is doing his job as Leader of the Liberal Party?

	Government	Callaghan	Thatcher	Steel
	%	%	%	%
Satisfied	22	41	43	35
Dissatisfied	69	52	45	36
Don't know	9	7	12	29

 

Q5 How would you vote if there were a General Election tomorrow? (If undecided or refused at Q5) Q6 Which party are you most inclined to support? Base: All expressing a voting intention (944)

	%
Conservative	52
Labour	39
Liberal	7
Other	2

Q7 Do you think that the general economic condition of the country will improve, stay the same, or get worse over the next 12 months?

	%
Improve	23
Stay the same	26
Get worse	43
Don't know	8
Net economic optimism (improve minus get worse)	-20

Q8 Thinking about Mr Callaghan and Mrs Thatcher, which one do you think...?

 

		Callaghan	Thatcher	Don't know
...has the best understanding of the problems facing Britain	%	44	40	16
...is the most likely to put the interests of the country before the interests of their party	%	36	42	22
...is the most extreme in their views	%	24	50	26
...is the most capable	%	40	37	23
...is best able to deal with the unions	%	48	26	26
...would make the better Prime Minister	%	43	39	18

Q9 Now thinking of their colleagues in the Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet: which team, Mr Callaghan's Cabinet or Mrs Thatcher's Shadow Cabinet, do you think...?

 

		Callaghan's Cabinet	Thatcher's Shadow Cabinet	Don't know
...have the best understanding of the problems facing Britain	%	37	41	22
...are the most likely to put the interests of the country before the interests of their party	%	35	44	21
...are the most extreme in their views	%	37	39	24
...are the most capable	%	36	41	23
...are best able to deal with the unions	%	48	28	24
...would make the best Cabinet Ministers	%	35	41	24

Q10 Given the result of the recent referendum in Scotland, do you think that the Government should, or should not, set up the proposed Scottish Assembly?

 

	%
Should set up	18
No	63
Don't know	19

Q11 Were you aware that there will be an election on 7th June to elect members to a European Parliament?

	%
Yes, aware of 7th June	34
Yes, but not aware of date	15
Did not know about	51

Q12 How likely is it that you will get along to vote in these elections for the European Parliament?

	%
Certain not to vote	12
Not very likely to vote	18
Quite likely to vote	19
Very likely to vote	17
Certain to vote	34

 

Q13 Which party would you vote for in these elections for the European Parliament? (If undecided or refused at Q13) Q14 Which party would you be most inclined to support? Base: All likely to vote in the European Parliament elections (833)

	%
Conservative	51
Labour	40
Liberal	6
Other	3