Ipsos Research Highlights - 20 August 2021

Britons are split over Afghanistan military withdrawal

Following the military withdrawal from Afghanistan, the British public are unsure if this was the right thing to do, 39% agree and 40% are opposed. Britons are however more critical about the United States with 47% saying it was wrong for them to withdraw. The majority (52%) don’t think the British military campaign was effective in bringing stability to Afghanistan. Just one in three (34%) think it has been effective, which is down from 42% in 2015.

High levels of concern about climate change but scepticism whether Britons will change behaviours

Concern about climate change is at an all time high with 73% of Britons saying that we are already feeling the effects of the climate change compared to 41% in 2010. While there is concern about whether individuals will change their behaviour, the majority are optimistic that people will be willing to buy electric cars instead of petrol or diesel (57%), or to buy solar panels (65%) in the coming years but less so about people eating less meat.

Two in three support increasing national insurance for social care reform or to reduce NHS backlog

Around half (49%) of Britons support more spending on public services, even if that means tax rises. Two-thirds would also support increasing national insurance to help social care and deal with the NHS backlog. Public opinion is split on what the Government will actually do: around a third each think it will either keep spending at current levels (34%), 32% think they will reduce it and 27% expect them to increase spending. 

Britons give positive scores for Government's record on vaccines, economy and unemployment – but critical on NHS, education, levelling-up and crime

Following the ending of lockdown restrictions, 87% of Britons think the Government have done a good job with the vaccination program. Nearly half are also positive about the Government’s managing of the economy (49%) and keeping unemployment down (48%). However, 47% of 18-34 year olds think they're performing badly with unemployment. The Government's worst rated areas are on levelling up by reducing regional inequalities, improving the NHS and the education system. 

In other news

We’ve looked at how Britain’s banks have performed in the pandemic: Monzo keeps top spot for the third year in a row, followed by First Direct and Starling. 

While globally many believe that expanding trade is a good thing, we found that more agree than disagree that there should be more trade barriers to limit imports of foreign goods and services.

As ever, please do let us know what you think, and I hope you find something to interest you.

Ben Page
Chief Executive, Ipsos
[email protected]