How Britain Voted in 1997

Profile of voters and how they voted in the 1997 election by age, gender, social class, housing tenure, region, newspaper readership, ethnicity, trade union membership, etc

See also : How Britain Voted in 1992, How Britain Voted in 2001, How Britain Voted in 2005, How Britain Voted in 2010, How Britain Voted 1974-2010 (overview), Voting by housing tenure 1983-2005, Voting Intention by religion 1992-2005, Voting by newspaper readership 1992-2010, MORI's polls during the 1997 general election

How Britain Voted in 1997

  • MORI's 1997 General Election voting aggregate is compiled from interviews (conducted face-to-face and in-home) with 13,544 British adults during the election campaign (21 March-29 April 1997).
  • Data were weighted to match the profile of the population and the final result of the election at regional level.
  • The figures exclude those who said they would not vote (7%), were undecided (9%) or refused to name a party (3%).
  • * Turnout estimates are based only on MORI's final election poll (n=2,304), and are not available for all categories
  Voting   Change since 1992    
  Con Lab LD Oth Con
lead
over Lab
Con Lab LD Con-Lab
swing
Esti-
mated
turnout*
  % % % % ± % ± % ± % ± % ± % %
Total 31 44 17 7 -13 -12 +9 -1 10.5 71
Gender
Men 31 45 17 7 -14 -10 +8 -1 9.0 72
Women 32 44 18 6 -12 -12 +10 0 11.0 70
Age
18-24 27 49 16 8 -22 -8 +11 -3 9.5 51
25-34 28 49 16 7 -21 -12 +12 -2 12.0 64
35-44 28 48 17 7 -20 -12 +12 -3 12.0 73
45-54 31 41 20 8 -10 -16 +10 +2 13.0 79
55-64 36 39 17 8 -3 -8 +4 -2 6.0 80
65+ 36 41 17 6 -5 -12 +7 0 9.5 79
Social class
AB 41 31 22 6 +10 -15 +12 0 13.5 79
C1 37 37 18 8 0 -15 +12 -2 13.5 75
C2 27 50 16 7 -23 -12 +10 -1 11.0 69
DE 21 59 13 7 -38 -10 +10 -3 10.0 66
Region
Scotland 18 45 13 24 -27 -8 +7 0 7.5 n/a
Northern 22 61 13 4 -39 -11 +11 0 11.0 n/a
Yorks & Humbs 28 52 16 4 -24 -10 +8 -1 9.0 n/a
North-West 27 54 14 5 -26 -11 +9 -2 10.0 n/a
Wales 20 55 12 13 -35 -9 +5 0 7.0 n/a
West Midlands 34 48 14 4 -14 -11 +9 -1 10.0 n/a
East Midlands 35 48 13 4 -13 -12 +10 -2 11.0 n/a
East Anglia 39 38 18 5 +1 -12 +10 -2 11.0 n/a
South West 37 26 31 6 +11 -11 +7 0 9.0 n/a
South East 41 32 21 6 +9 -13 +11 -2 12.0 n/a
Greater London 31 49 15 5 -18 -14 +12 -1 13.0 n/a
Telephone owner
Yes 32 43 18 7 -11 -12 +10 -1 11.0 72
No 16 65 11 8 -49 -17 +18 -4 17.5 61
Work status
Full time 31 44 18 7 -13 -13 +11 0 12.0 70
Part time 32 45 16 7 -13 -12 +12 -4 12.0 73
Not working 31 44 17 8 -13 -13 +9 -1 11.0 73
Unemployed 15 64 12 9 -49 -10 +13 -5 11.5 62
Male Full-Time 31 44 17 8 -13 -13 +10 -1 11.5 71
Female Full-Time 31 44 19 6 -13 -14 +11 +1 12.5 69
Self-employed 40 32 19 9 +8 n/a n/a n/a n/a 68
Private sector 33 46 15 6 -13 n/a n/a n/a n/a 67
Public sector 23 52 19 6 -29 n/a n/a n/a n/a 79
Housing tenure
Owner 41 32 20 7 +9 -12 +5 +1 8.5 77
Mortgage 33 43 18 6 -10 -13 +12 -1 12.5 71
Council/HA tenant 15 64 12 9 -49 -9 +9 -3 9.0 69
Private rent 26 48 20 6 -22 -7 +8 -1 7.5 58
ABC1 own/mortgage 41 32 20 7 +9 -15 +11 -1 13.0 n/a
C2DE own/mortgage 29 49 16 6 -20 -12 +10 -1 11.0 n/a
Ethnicity
White 32 43 18 7 -11 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
All non-white 18 70 9 3 -52 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
Asian 22 66 9 3 -44 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
Black 12 82 5 1 -70 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
Trade union
Member 18 57 18 7 -39 -13 +11 -1 12.0 78
Non-member 34 42 17 7 -8 -12 +9 -1 10.5 70
Men/women by age/class
Men 18-24 30 45 16 9 -15 -10 +11 -2 10.5 n/a
Men 25-34 28 47 17 8 -19 -12 +10 -1 11.0 n/a
Men 35-54 28 47 17 8 -19 -13 +11 -2 12.0 n/a
Men 55+ 35 40 17 8 -5 -8 +3 0 5.5 n/a
Men AB 40 32 22 6 +8 -15 +12 0 13.5 n/a
Men C1 36 37 19 8 -1 -15 +12 -1 13.5 n/a
Men C2 26 51 14 9 -25 -11 +9 -2 10.0 n/a
Men DE 19 60 12 7 -41 -8 +8 -4 8.0 n/a
Women 18-24 24 53 15 8 -29 -6 +10 -4 8.0 n/a
Women 25-34 28 50 15 7 -22 -12 +13 -3 12.5 n/a
Women 35-54 32 42 20 6 -10 -14 +10 +1 12.0 n/a
Women 55+ 37 40 17 6 -3 -12 +9 -1 10.5 n/a
Women AB 43 30 22 5 +13 -15 +11 +1 13.0 n/a
Women C1 38 37 18 7 +1 -15 +12 -2 13.5 n/a
Women C2 29 47 18 6 -18 -11 +9 -1 10.0 n/a
Women DE 21 59 14 6 -38 -12 +13 -2 12.5 n/a
Newspaper readership
The Express 49 29 16 6 +20 -19 +14 +1 16.5 n/a
Daily Mail 49 29 14 8 +20 -16 +15 -4 15.5 n/a
The Mirror 14 72 11 3 -58 -6 +9 -3 7.5 n/a
Daily Record 12 57 10 21 -45 -2 +2 +3 2.0 n/a
Daily Telegraph 57 20 17 6 +37 -15 +9 +1 12.0 n/a
Financial Times 48 29 19 4 +19 -17 +12 +3 14.5 n/a
The Guardian 8 67 22 3 -59 -7 +12 -3 9.5 n/a
The Independent 16 47 30 7 -31 -9 +10 -5 9.5 n/a
Daily Star 17 66 12 5 -49 -15 +13 0 14.0 n/a
The Sun 30 52 12 6 -22 -15 +16 -3 15.5 n/a
The Times 42 28 25 5 +14 -22 +13 +6 17.5 n/a
No daily paper 29 43 21 7 -14 -12 +9 -1 10.5 n/a
Evening Standard 36 45 12 7 -9 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
Sunday readership
News of the World 28 55 11 6 -27 -12 +14 -5 13.0 n/a
Express on Sunday 53 27 14 6 +26 -13 +12 -3 12.5 n/a
Sunday Mail 14 53 11 22 -39 -4 +4 +1 4.0 n/a
Sunday Mirror 18 67 12 3 -49 -5 +8 -5 6.5 n/a
Sunday Post 23 45 13 19 -22 -9 +6 0 7.5 n/a
Sunday Telegraph 56 19 17 8 +37 -15 +8 +1 11.5 n/a
Mail on Sunday 49 28 15 8 +21 -11 +9 -5 10.0 n/a
The Observer 11 63 22 4 -52 -8 +13 -5 10.5 n/a
The People 21 62 11 6 -41 -9 +11 -5 10.0 n/a
Sunday Times 43 30 21 6 +13 -14 +12 -1 13.0 n/a
Indep't on Sunday 14 48 32 6 -34 -11 +9 0 10.0 n/a
No Sunday paper 30 42 21 7 -12 -11 +10 -3 10.5 n/a

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