Issues Index aggregates 2015

The table and chart shows Ipsos's aggregated data from all 12 months of our 2015 Issues Index surveys

2015 Issues Index Aggregate data

The table and chart below shows Ipsos's aggregated data from all 12 months of our 2015 Issues Index surveys, with the top 10 most important issues broken down by gender, by age, ethnicity, social class and by voting intention. This is based on a total of more than 10,000 interviews, aggregated from the 12 individual polls.

 

Some headline findings are as follows;

  • Immigration remains the most important issue in 2015 – as it was in 2014. Indeed, concern has increased by six percentage points following a five percentage point increase the year before. In previous years this code also included race relations, but these are now two separate codes (however, despite this, concern has still increased).
  • Concern about immigration steadily increases with age, from a third (33%) of those aged 18-24 to half (53%) of those aged 65+. Four fifths (79%) of UKIP voters are concerned compared with just a third (33%) of Lib Dem voters. Half (50%) of those in the South East outside of London mention this issue compared with just a third of Scots and Londoners (34% and 33% respectively).
  • Two fifths (39%) mentioned the NHS in 2015, an increase of 12 percentage points since 2014, and a continuation of a rise in concern since recording  a level of 19% in 2012. Concern is higher amongst women than men (39% and 30% respectively). Concern rises from 31% of DEs to 46% of ABs, indeed, amongst  ABC1s aged 35-54 it was the most important issue facing Britain.
  • Three in ten (29%) mentioned the economy in 2014, a fall of 18 percentage points since 2013, with concern higher amongst men than amongst women (33% and 25% respectively). Concern rises from 21% of C2DEs aged 55+ to 39% of ABC1s aged 35-54.
  • In 2015, less than a fifth (18%) were concerned about unemployment, a fall from 31% in 2013. As we have seen previously, concern decreases with both age and affluence, with just 12% of ABC1s aged 55+ concerned compared with a quarter (25%) of C2DEs aged 18-34.
  • In line with the last two years, black and minority ethnic respondents remained particularly concerned with unemployment. Amongst this group, it was mentioned by 30%– significantly more than for white respondents (17%).
  • There has also been an increase in concern about defence/foreign affairs, from 12% in 2014 to 16% in 2015. Concern is linked to affluence, rising to 21% of AB respondents, and falling to 12% of DE respondents.
Issues IMM ECO HEA UNE POV EDU CRI HOU DEF INF
  % % % % %  % % % % %
All 44 29 39 18 16 16 11 15 16 6
Gender
Male 43 33 34 18 15 13 10 14 17 7
Female 44 25 43 18 17 19 12 16 15 6
Age
18-24 33 25 26 23 17 16 12 19 12 7
25-34 37 26 33 22 15 16 11 17 13 10
35-44 41 32 40 18 18 20 12 16 14 8
45-54 46 33 43 19 20 18 11 15 17 5
55-64 48 31 46 19 17 16 11 14 20 5
65+ 53 26 42 11 12 13 11 11 19 4
Voting Intention
Con 57 38 42 12 8 17 11 13 23 4
Lab 36 28 39 25 20 18 12 18 13 10
Lib Dem 33 36 46 13 22 25 9 17 12 2
UKIP 79 19 40 15 9 12 10 15 19 6
Social Grade
AB 39 39 46 14 20 24 8 15 21 4
C1 43 31 40 17 17 17 10 15 16 5
C2 50 25 37 20 14 13 12 16 14 7
DE 44 20 31 22 13 10 15 15 12 9
Age within Social Grade
18-34 ABC1 32 30 35 20 18 21 9 17 15 8
18-34 C2DE 38 21 25 25 14 12 14 19 10 10
35-54 ABC1 41 39 46 16 21 23 10 15 17 4
35-54 C2DE 47 24 36 23 15 13 13 16 13 9
55+ ABC1 47 34 47 12 17 18 9 13 22 3
55+ C2DE 55 21 39 16 10 9 14 12 16 6
Ethnicity
White 45 29 41 17 17 17 11 14 17 5
BME 32 24 24 30 11 14 16 20 7 16
Region
Wales 52 25 48 24 14 21 6 11 19 3
Scotland 34 32 36 20 28 16 8 10 19 6
North of England 45 26 38 19 16 17 12 8 17 5
Midlands 43 25 34 18 11 13 10 10 13 7
South including London 44 33 42 17 17 18 13 26 17 7

Base: 11,777 GB adults aged 18+

Source: Economist/Ipsos

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