Environment and Social Justice
MORI's survey for Real World (a coalition of 44 campaigning organisations) highlights the importance of certain issues to voters when contemplating which party to vote for.
Four in five or more saw the following as important in helping them decide who to vote for:
- Providing affordable homes for those who need them
- Tougher laws on the international arms trade including a ban on the use of landmines
- The promise of much tougher policies to protect the environment
- A transport programme with clear targets for reducing road traffic
- Policies to reduce the gap between rich and poor people in the UK and world-wide
- Firm measures to reduce energy consumption in order to tackle global warming
- Clear legislation which establishes the rights of individual citizens
Just below four in five see "stronger legal protection for all sites of special scientific interest and areas of outstanding natural beauty" and "increasing taxes on pollution and waste so as to reduce taxes on creating new jobs and wealth", as being important.
Increasing Britain's foreign aid is noticeably less important than the other factors measured, but is still regarded as important by 61% of those aged 18-24.
Technical details
MORI interviewed 1,069 adults aged 18+ in 78 enumeration district sampling points across Great Britain. All interviews were conducted face-to-face and in-home, on 2-3 April 1997. Data are weighted to match the known population profile.
Topline
Q Looking ahead to the General Election on May 1st, how important, if at all, will the following issues be in helping you decide which party to vote for?
| Very imp- ortant | Fairly imp- ortant | Not very imp- ortant | Not at all imp- ortant | No opinion/ don't know | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Providing affordable homes for those that need them | % | 58 | 33 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| Tougher laws on the international arms trade including a ban on the use of landmines | % | 57 | 27 | 8 | 4 | 5 |
| Policies to reduce the gap between rich and poor people in the UK and worldwide | % | 47 | 34 | 11 | 5 | 3 |
| Clear legislation which establishes the rights of individual citizens | % | 42 | 38 | 9 | 3 | 7 |
| A transport programme with clear targets for reducing road traffic | % | 40 | 42 | 12 | 4 | 3 |
| Firm measures to reduce energy consumption in order to tackle global warming | % | 40 | 41 | 10 | 4 | 6 |
| The promise of much tougher policies to protect the environment | % | 37 | 45 | 11 | 4 | 2 |
| Stronger legal protection for all Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty | % | 37 | 41 | 13 | 5 | 4 |
| Increasing taxes on pollution and waste so as to reduce taxes on creating new jobs and wealth | % | 32 | 45 | 11 | 6 | 7 |
| Increasing Britain’s foreign aid | % | 9 | 27 | 34 | 24 | 6 |
Q Looking ahead to the year 2025, do you think the world will be a better place for future generations, a worse place, or will it be about the same?
| % | |
|---|---|
| Better | 16 |
| Worse | 35 |
| About the same | 37 |
| Don't know | 11 |
