General Election 2001 - Pre-Campaign Survey

MORI poll for the Economist, including measurements of Best Party on Key issues and Most Capable Prime Minister, conducted during what was then expected to be the last week before the election was called
  • MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 2,017 adults aged 18+ at 186 sampling points across Great Britain
  • Interviews were conducted face-to-face on 29th March to 3rd April 2001
  • Data are weighted to match the profile of the population
  • Results are based on all respondents unless otherwise stated
  • An '*' indicates a finding of less than 0.5%, but greater than zero
  • Poll conducted by MORI on behalf of The Economist

Q1 How do you intend to vote in the General Election likely to be on May 3rd? [If undecided or refused at Q1] Q2 Which party are you most inclined to support? Base: All respondents 18+ (2,017)

  %
Conservative 29
Labour 52
Liberal Democrats (Lib Dem) 12
Scottish/Welsh Nationalist 3
Green Party 1
Democratic/UKIP/Referendum Party 1
Other 1
Con lead (+%) -23
Would not vote 12
Undecided 11
Refused 1

Q3 Can you tell me how likely you are to get along to vote in the General Election? Base: All respondents 18+ (2,017)

  %
Certain to vote 49
Very likely to vote 18
Quite likely to vote 11
Not very likely to vote 9
Certain not to vote 10
Don't know 2

Likelihood of voting Long Term Trends

Q4 Have you definitely decided to vote for the ….. party or is there a chance you may change your mind before you vote? Base: All respondents 18+ naming a party

    Definitely decided May change Mind Don't know
  n % % %
Conservative (356) 86 13 1
Labour (643) 82 17 1
Liberal Democrats (141) 63 37 1
Scottish/Welsh Nationalists (46) 80 20 0
 
    n n n
Green Party (9) 6 3 0
Democratic Party/UKIP/Referendum Party (13) 9 4 0

Q5a If you do change your mind about voting for the Conservative party, which party would you vote for instead? Base: All respondents voting Conservative 18+ who may change mind (51)

  %
Conservative 0
Labour 29
Liberal Democrats 23
Scottish/Welsh Nationalists 2
Green Party 6
Democratic Party/UKIP/Referendum Party 0
Other 3
Would not vote 1
Undecided 35
Refused 0

Q5b If you do change your mind about voting for the Labour party, which party would you vote for instead? Base: All respondents voting Labour 18+ who may change mind (100)

  %
Conservative 27
Labour 0
Liberal Democrats 36
Scottish/Welsh Nationalists 4
Green Party 1
Democratic Party/UKIP/Referendum Party 1
Other 0
Would not vote 2
Undecided 29
Refused 0

Q5c If you do change your mind about voting for the Liberal Democrats party, which party would you vote for instead? Base: All respondents voting Liberal Democrats 18+ who may change mind (52)

  %
Conservative 20
Labour 50
Liberal Democrats 0
Scottish/Welsh Nationalists 0
Green Party 2
Democratic Party/UKIP/Referendum Party 0
Other 2
Would not vote 1
Undecided 23
Refused 0

Q6 At this General Election, which, if any of these issues do you think will be very important to you in helping you decide which party to vote for? Base: All respondents 18+ (2,017)

  %
Health care 59
Education 50
Law and order 41
Pensions 31
Taxation 28
Unemployment 26
Public transport 25
Managing the economy 24
Asylum seekers/Immigration 23
Protecting the natural environment 21
Housing 19
Europe 18
Animal welfare 14
Defence 10
Constitution/devolution 6
Northern Ireland 6
Trade Unions 4
Other 3
None of these 6
Don't know 4

Q7 Thinking of those issues you think are important please tell me if you think that the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats or some other party has the best policy on each. Base: All respondents who think each issue is important 18+

    Con Lab Lib Dem Other None DK
    % % % % % %
Asylum seekers/ Immigration (467) 36 12 6 2 15 29
Animal welfare (280) 16 23 7 6 9 39
Constitution/devolution (122) 35 21 11 10 7 16
Defence (199) 39 26 2 1 8 24
Education (1,003) 15 40 10 1 9 26
Europe (349) 39 25 13 3 6 14
Health care (1,202) 15 43 6 1 10 25
Housing (388) 11 39 4 * 9 35
Law and order (835) 31 29 4 1 11 24
Managing the economy (465) 22 48 3 1 6 19
Northern Ireland (121) 18 41 2 0 14 25
Pensions (675) 19 48 3 1 7 22
Protecting the natural environment (402) 14 21 15 13 10 26
Public transport (464) 13 32 10 2 15 27
Taxation (541) 32 32 6 1 8 21
Trade Unions (75) 15 51 1 1 8 24
Unemployment (526) 8 56 2 2 9 22

Q8 What do you think the main issues in the General Election campaign will be? Q9 What do you think the main issues in the General Election campaign should be? Base: All respondents 18+ (2,017)

  Q8 will be Q9 should be
  % %
Asylum seekers/Immigration 17 18
Animal welfare 10 9
Constitution/devolution 2 4
Defence 3 6
Education 44 48
Europe 20 16
Health care 51 57
Housing 6 12
Law and order 28 35
Managing the economy 20 20
Northern Ireland 4 4
Pensions 16 20
Protecting the natural environment 7 14
Public transport 14 16
Taxation 23 20
Trade Unions 1 2
Unemployment 19 22
Other 5 4
None of these 1 1
Don't know 10 6

Q10 Who do you think would make the most capable Prime Minister, Mr Blair, Mr Hague or Mr Kennedy? Base: All respondents 18+ (2,017)

  %
Blair 49
Hague 14
Kennedy 8
Other 3
None 14
Don't know 13

Q11 Which political party, if any, do you think would be the best at looking after the interests of people like you? Base: All respondents 18+ (2,017)

  %
Conservative 22
Labour 41
Liberal Democrat 10
Other 3
None 10
Don't know 15

Q12 How important is it to you personally who wins the General Election? Base: All respondents 18+ (2,017)

  %
Very important 27
Fairly important 33
Not very important 25
Not at all important 12
No opinion 3

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