The Campaign and the Media, 1997
MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 997 adults aged 18+ at 85 sampling points across Great Britain as part of MORI's regular CAPI Omnibus. Interviews were conducted face-to-face, in home, on 25-28 April 1997. Data were weighted to match the profile of the population.
"The political triangle"
Q. (To all naming a party for which they intend to vote) I want you to think about what it is that most attracted you to the ... party. Some people are attracted mainly by the policies of the party, some by the leaders of the party and some because they identify with the party as a whole. If you had a total of ten points to allocate according to how important each of these was to you, how many points would you allocate to the leaders of the Party you intend voting for, how many to its policies and how many to the party as a whole? (Figures in table are mean average scores out of 10 given by respondents)
| All | Con | Lab | Lib Dem | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leaders | 3.4 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.3 |
| Policies | 4.1 | 4.2 | 3.8 | 4.3 |
| Party | 2.3 | 2.2 | 2.5 | 2.3 |
Trends on this question
The media, the polls and the election
Q. How interested would you say you were in each of the following...?
| Very interested | Fairly interested | Not particularly interested | Not at all interested | No opinion | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| News about the election | % | 13 | 39 | 26 | 22 | * |
| What the opinion polls say about the election | % | 7 | 26 | 38 | 28 | 1 |
| Party election broadcasts | % | 5 | 27 | 31 | 36 | 1 |
| Politicians' speeches | % | 7 | 33 | 30 | 30 | * |
Trends on interest in: Election news; Opinion polls; PEBs; Politicians' speeches
(Each of the following banks of questions was asked only to respondents who said they regularly read the newspaper in question. Note that the numbers questioned in some cases were very small and responses should therefore be treated with caution.) Q. Do you think the (name of newspaper) mainly supports or opposes the Conservative Party, or neither particularly supports or opposes it? Q. Do you think the (name of newspaper) mainly supports or opposes the Labour Party, or neither particularly supports or opposes it? Q. Do you think the (name of newspaper) mainly supports or opposes the Liberal Democrats, or neither particularly supports or opposes it?
| Supports | Opposes | Neither/
Don't know |
Net | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | ±% | |
| Daily Express (Base: 133) | ||||
| Conservative | 64 | 1 | 35 | +63 |
| Labour | 2 | 53 | 44 | -51 |
| Lib Dem | 4 | 12 | 84 | -8 |
| Guardian (Base: 91) | ||||
| Conservative | 7 | 64 | 29 | -57 |
| Labour | 64 | 1 | 32 | +63 |
| Lib Dem | 34 | 1 | 65 | +33 |
| Independent (Base: 65) | ||||
| Conservative | 10 | 23 | 67 | -13 |
| Labour | 22 | 7 | 71 | +15 |
| Lib Dem | 18 | 3 | 79 | +15 |
| Daily Mail (Base: 274) | ||||
| Conservative | 69 | 4 | 27 | +65 |
| Labour | 7 | 55 | 38 | -48 |
| Lib Dem | 4 | 22 | 73 | -18 |
| Daily Mirror (Base: 256) | ||||
| Conservative | 5 | 75 | 20 | -70 |
| Labour | 79 | 4 | 17 | +75 |
| Lib Dem | 4 | 15 | 80 | -11 |
| Daily Record (Base: 91) | ||||
| Conservative | 4 | 56 | 41 | -52 |
| Labour | 60 | 4 | 36 | +56 |
| Lib Dem | 5 | 9 | 86 | -4 |
| Daily Star (Base: 51) | ||||
| Conservative | 27 | 17 | 56 | +10 |
| Labour | 24 | 15 | 61 | +9 |
| Lib Dem | 7 | 4 | 89 | +3 |
| The Sun (Base: 346) | ||||
| Conservative | 8 | 61 | 30 | -53 |
| Labour | 67 | 6 | 27 | +61 |
| Lib Dem | 2 | 14 | 84 | -12 |
| The Times (Base: 96) | ||||
| Conservative | 46 | 5 | 49 | +41 |
| Labour | 8 | 27 | 66 | -19 |
| Lib Dem | 7 | 8 | 85 | -1 |
| Daily Telegraph (Base: 132) | ||||
| Conservative | 77 | 4 | 19 | +73 |
| Labour | 5 | 56 | 40 | -51 |
| Lib Dem | 6 | 25 | 70 | -19 |
| Financial Times (Base: 26) | ||||
| Conservative | 26 | 0 | 74 | +26 |
| Labour | 7 | 11 | 82 | -4 |
| Lib Dem | 4 | 7 | 89 | -3 |
| Sunday Mail (Base: 104) | ||||
| Conservative | 10 | 47 | 43 | -37 |
| Labour | 51 | 6 | 43 | +45 |
| Lib Dem | 2 | 5 | 92 | -3 |
| Sunday Express (Base: 112) | ||||
| Conservative | 63 | 1 | 36 | +62 |
| Labour | 2 | 54 | 45 | -52 |
| Lib Dem | 3 | 14 | 83 | -11 |
| Sunday Mirror (Base: 204) | ||||
| Conservative | 5 | 64 | 31 | -59 |
| Labour | 70 | 5 | 25 | +65 |
| Lib Dem | 2 | 10 | 88 | -8 |
| Mail on Sunday (Base: 233) | ||||
| Conservative | 70 | 2 | 27 | +68 |
| Labour | 2 | 58 | 40 | -56 |
| Lib Dem | 3 | 19 | 78 | -16 |
| News of the World (Base: 355) | ||||
| Conservative | 11 | 34 | 55 | -23 |
| Labour | 37 | 9 | 54 | +28 |
| Lib Dem | 2 | 10 | 88 | -8 |
| Independent on Sunday (Base: 47) | ||||
| Conservative | 0 | 30 | 70 | -30 |
| Labour | 35 | 2 | 63 | +33 |
| Lib Dem | 21 | 3 | 75 | +18 |
| Observer (Base: 70) | ||||
| Conservative | 3 | 55 | 42 | -52 |
| Labour | 57 | 2 | 41 | +55 |
| Lib Dem | 35 | 2 | 63 | +33 |
| Sunday People (Base: 128) | ||||
| Conservative | 11 | 35 | 54 | -24 |
| Labour | 42 | 7 | 51 | +35 |
| Lib Dem | 4 | 6 | 90 | -2 |
| Sunday Telegraph (Base: 94) | ||||
| Conservative | 66 | 5 | 29 | +61 |
| Labour | 8 | 53 | 40 | -45 |
| Lib Dem | 5 | 24 | 70 | -19 |
| Sunday Times (Base: 154) | ||||
| Conservative | 48 | 7 | 45 | +41 |
| Labour | 7 | 33 | 61 | -26 |
| Lib Dem | 8 | 11 | 81 | -3 |
| Scotland on Sunday (Base: 12) | ||||
| Conservative | - | 55 | 45 | -55 |
| Labour | 53 | - | 47 | +53 |
| Lib Dem | 12 | 9 | 79 | +3 |
Q. During an election campaign, do you think there should or should not be a ban on...?
| Should | Should not | Don't know | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All coverage of the election on TV and radio | % | 15 | 83 | 2 |
| Party political broadcasts on TV and radio | % | 20 | 78 | 2 |
| All coverage of the election in newspapers | % | 10 | 88 | 2 |
| The publication of opinion polls | % | 16 | 78 | 5 |
Trends on this question
Q. Have you seen or heard any national opinion polls in the past week giving the position of the parties?
| % | |
|---|---|
| Yes | 63 |
| No | 37 |
Q. (To all who have seen/heard any national opinion polls in the past week) Thinking about the last nationally conducted opinion poll you remember seeing, which party was in the lead? Q. And which party was second? Base: 627
| Lead | Second | |
|---|---|---|
| % | % | |
| Conservative | 3 | 90 |
| Labour | 94 | 3 |
| Liberal Democrat | * | 2 |
| Other | 0 | 1 |
| Don't know | 3 | 4 |
Q. Thinking about BBC Television coverage, do you think this is biased towards the Conservatives' point of view, Labour's point of view, or some other party's point of view, or do you feel their coverage is unbiased? Q. And thinking about Independent Television coverage, that is ITV and Channel 4, do you think it is biased towards the Conservatives' point of view, or towards Labour's point of view, or some other party's point of view, or do you feel their coverage is unbiased?
| 23-24 Apr 1997 | 25-28 Apr 1997 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BBC | ITV/C4 | BBC | ITV/C4 | |
| % | % | % | % | |
| Biased to Conservative | 12 | 5 | 13 | 4 |
| Biased to Labour | 8 | 6 | 8 | 7 |
| Biased to some other party | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Unbiased | 54 | 54 | 58 | 63 |
| Don’t know | 25 | 35 | 20 | 25 |
"Veracity"
Q. Now I will read out a list of different types of people. For each, would you tell me whether you generally trust them to tell the truth or not?
| Tell truth | Not tell truth | No opinion | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | ||
| Doctors | % | 86 | 10 | 4 |
| Teachers | % | 83 | 11 | 6 |
| Television news readers | % | 74 | 14 | 12 |
| Professors | % | 70 | 12 | 18 |
| Judges | % | 72 | 19 | 9 |
| Clergymen/priests | % | 71 | 20 | 9 |
| Scientists | % | 63 | 22 | 15 |
| The Police | % | 61 | 30 | 9 |
| The ordinary man /woman in the street | % | 56 | 28 | 16 |
| Pollsters | % | 55 | 28 | 17 |
| Civil servants | % | 36 | 50 | 14 |
| Trade Union officials | % | 27 | 56 | 17 |
| Business leaders | % | 29 | 60 | 11 |
| Journalists | % | 15 | 76 | 9 |
| Politicians generally | % | 15 | 78 | 7 |
| Government Ministers | % | 12 | 80 | 8 |
Trends on this question
