Eight in ten Britons have felt little or no impact of economic growth
Latest polling from Ipsos shows eight in ten Britons (80%) have felt little, if any, impact on their standard of living from the UK's economic recovery.
New polling from Ipsos shows eight in ten Britons (80%) have felt little, if any, impact on their standard of living from the UK’s economic recovery. Half of Britons (49%) have felt no impact at all from economic growth, while 31% say they have not felt very much. Just one in six (17%) say they say they have felt a fair amount of impact (14%), or been impacted ‘a great deal’ (three percent).
Nor are the public particularly optimistic about the year ahead. Three-quarters of Britons (75%) think economic growth will have not very much impact (42%) or no impact at all (33%) on their standard of living over the next 12 months – a period which will span the general election on 7th May. Just over one in five (22%) think growth will have a fair amount (18%) or a great deal of impact (four percent).
These findings do point to a slight improvement in sentiment since we last asked the questions a year ago. Last year, 14% had felt a fair amount/great deal of impact on their standard of living from economic growth. Now that figure stands at 17%. Meanwhile, last November, 19% thought they would feel a great deal/fair amount of impact from economic growth over the following year. Today the figure is at 22%. So there is a positive trend, albeit at walking pace.
There remains considerable optimism, however, about prospects for the economy at a national level. Four in ten (42%) now expect the economic condition of the country to improve over the next year, while 30% expect it to stay the same and 23% think it will get worse. This gives an Ipsos Economic Optimism Index score (% improve minus % get worse) of +19, up from +12 last month.
Again, sentiment is more muted at a personal level. One in four (25%) expect their financial circumstances to improve over the next twelve months, with 52% expecting them to stay the same and 22% thinking they will get worse – a Personal Economic Optimism Index score of +3, well below public expectations for the country. This does however mark an improvement from the -10 recorded in November last year (and -34 in March 2011).
Bobby Duffy, Managing Director at Ipsos said:
"These results show Britons' economic optimism is still not converting to a feelgood factor at a personal level. The Conservatives' vote share has shown little change since the end of the recession; whether they can convert the recovery into votes, or Labour can take advantage of ongoing concerns about living standards will remain one of the key issues right up to the election."
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Technical note
Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,011 adults aged 18+ across Great Britain. Interviews were conducted by telephone 8-10 November 2014. Data are weighted to match the profile of the population.
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