Ipsos Research Highlights - 29 May 2020

UK public still staying home to huge degree and even getting used to lockdown life

Even after the easing of the lockdown measures by the Government the public are still extremely cautious and 41% say they did not leave their home on five or more of the previous seven days.

Protecting lives remains the priority for the British public over wider impacts on the economy and education. While increasing numbers think we are in this crisis for the long haul: 30% now expect life won’t return to normal for two or more years, up from 9% six weeks ago.

Reduction in confidence in Government's Coronavirus response

Thirty-eight per cent of Britons support the new lockdown measures announced on 10 May, while 38% oppose them. Support for this new, and more nuanced, approach is much lower than that for the initial measures announced on 23 March, which nine in ten supported. There also seems to be some confusion about the difference in guidelines across the countries in the UK while 54% think the Government is relaxing the lockdown measures too quickly.

Anxiety the most common health concern among Britons under coronavirus lockdown

Globally, Britons are the most likely to be suffering from anxiety during lockdown as almost 3 in 10 (28%) say they are suffering, more than the global average of 24%. Women are again most likely to be over-eating and under-exercising. While 16% of Britons are experiencing insomnia and depression while in lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

Four in five Scots say Nicola Sturgeon has handled the coronavirus outbreak well

Over three-quarters (78%) of Scots think the Scottish Government has handled the crisis well so far. This is compared with 34% who say the same of the UK Government. This is also reflected in the response to government communications. The majority (86%) feel the Scottish Government’s messaging has been clear. However the Scottish public are much more critical of the UK Government’s messaging, with more saying it has been unclear (48%) than that it has been clear (39%). To add the concerns of the UK Government 34% of Scots want a second independence referendum within the next 2 years – and the majority want it in the next decade. The Scots are also pessimistic about the economy as 72% think it will get worse over the next 12 months.

In other news 

Majority of Brits support the reunification of child refugees with family already in the UK. There is a big difference in levels of agreement between those who voted leave and remain in the 2016 EU referendum vote in 2016 with leave voters being less supportive.

As part of our Virtual Future of Research series, we’ll be hosting various webinars and bringing you regular bitesize content on a range of topics surrounding coronavirus. 

• Sign up for our next webinar COVID-19: The generational response to explore the generational response to the coronavirus and how the different generations are experiencing and coping with the lockdown.
• The countdown has begun to the launch of Ipsos iris, the UKOM endorsed solution for measuring online audiences in the UK, launching in January 2021. Join Ian Dowds, CEO of UKOM, and James Torr, Senior Director at Ipsos, on 24 June at 11:00am to learn more about how our credible and transparent solution will provide you with data that’s more robust, more frequent, and more granular. 

   

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]