Tony Blair's answer to the challenge posed by last weekend's peace march has been, in effect, to ask the public to trust his judgment rather than their own. Five years ago, they might have done; but many fewer are prepared to do so these days. In MORI's most recent poll on the Iraq crisis, in the third week of January, just 26% approved of the way Mr Blair was handling the current situation, and his support may have fallen further since then. Mr Blair's personal and government ratings have both fallen sharply: the MORI Political Monitor at the end of January found only 26% of the public satisfied with the way the government is running the country and 33% satisfied with the way Mr Blair is doing his job as Prime Minister - almost identical to the troughs those ratings hit immediately after the fuel crisis in September 2000.
Doctors continue to come out top in MORI's annual poll of the most trusted professionals or occupational groups. Nine in ten continue to say that they trust doctors to tell the truth. Public approval for the way doctors do their jobs remains high at around 9 in 10.
Q How many times in the past twelve months or so have you personally...
...visited your GP's surgery to see your GP or family doctor?
...had an appointment with a hospital doctor?
Q As you may have heard or read, doctors are sometimes reported in the press or on TV in an unfavourable light...
Pulse Check
Pulse Check delivers key insights from Ipsos' Political Monitor, Political Pulse, and Public Services data, along with reactive polling, to help you navigate the evolving political landscape.
The nation's interest in sport — and its viewing of sport on TV — are generally on the decline, according to MORI's latest SportsTracker survey. Since the last survey in 1996, only swimming has seen a significant rise in public interest, while football is the one sport with a greater TV following. Swimming continues to be the most popular participation sport, with one in five Britons taking regularly to the pool.
Half of people in Britain (51%) say they have neither a favourable or unfavourable view of Russia, according to new research from MORI. The project was commissioned by Expert Group, a business information provider in Russia as part of its 'Real Russia' campaign. The project aimed to reveal British perceptions and levels of knowledge of Russia and its leader in comparison to other countries, institutions and world leaders.
The general impression of the political scene over the last few months has been of gradually crumbling support for the government, as measured in tumbling satisfaction ratings, but tempered by reluctance to swing to the Tories, with a consequent seepage towards the Lib Dems and Labour support otherwise holding up better than might otherwise be the case - but this has been based almost entirely on broad-sweep polls, with only speculation about the details.
Against a backdrop of increased concern about war in Iraq, Tony Blair's satisfaction ratings have fallen another five points in the past month, with only one third of the electorate now saying they are satisfied with the job he is doing as Prime Minister. Even fewer — 26% — are satisfied with the way the Government is running the country — the lowest figure since the fuel crisis in September 2000.
