Local Democracy Study
Survey for the Local Government Association on Attitudes to Voting In Local Elections
Q As far as you know, are you currently registered to vote? And are you registered to vote in this constituency, or are you registered to vote somewhere else?
| % | |
| Yes, registered to vote in constituency | 89 |
| No, registered to vote somewhere else | 3 |
| No, not registered to vote | 8 |
| Don't know | 1 |
Q Do you generally get along to vote at local Council elections?
| % | |
|---|---|
| I always vote in local Council elections | 48 |
| I usually vote in local Council elections | 18 |
| I sometimes vote in local Council elections | 9 |
| I rarely vote in local Council elections | 7 |
| I never vote in local Council elections | 16 |
| Don't know / can't remember | 2 |
Q Which of these statements describes your attitude to voting at local Council elections? Please mention as many as you like.
| % | |
|---|---|
| I don't believe it will make a difference to local taxes and services | 17 |
| My vote doesn't make any difference | 10 |
| Local councils have no real control over their budgets, so I don't see the point in voting at local elections | 9 |
| I vote in General Elections but not in local Council elections | 8 |
| The party I would prefer to vote for has no chance in this area | 8 |
| None of the parties stands for the policies I would like to see | 7 |
| I don't think voting is very important | 6 |
| The voting system is not fair | 5 |
| I'm too busy to get along to vote | 4 |
| I don't know when the local elections are held | 4 |
| I don't know where the polling station is | 3 |
| I can't get to the polling station because its too inconvenient | 2 |
| The opening hours of the polling station are inconvenient | 2 |
| Other | 16 |
| Don't know / no opinion | 37 |
Q Most people do not vote in local council elections. I am going to read out a number of suggestions that have been made for encouraging people to vote in local elections. For each one, please tell me whether it would make you personally more or less likely to vote in the next council elections or would it make no difference to you.
| More likely | Less likely | Make no difference | Don't know | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | |
| Voting on Sunday instead of Thursday | 16 | 15 | 67 | 2 |
| Voting by post | 26 | 12 | 60 | 2 |
| Voting for a directly elected mayor who will run the council | 21 | 11 | 62 | 6 |
| To have polling stations at the supermarket | 37 | 6 | 56 | 2 |
| Extending the voting period so that polling stations are open for more than one day | 32 | 4 | 62 | 2 |
| Voting on Saturday instead of Thursday | 22 | 8 | 67 | 2 |
| Polling stations being open 24 hours | 24 | 4 | 70 | 2 |
| Voting from home using digital television or the internet | 26 | 10 | 61 | 4 |
| Voting from work using digital television or the internet | 24 | 9 | 62 | 4 |
| To have polling stations at shopping centres | 38 | 4 | 56 | 2 |
| To have polling stations at train stations | 14 | 11 | 73 | 2 |
| Voting from home using the telephone | 40 | 7 | 50 | 2 |
Technical details
MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 1,832 adults aged 18+ at 155 sampling points across Great Britain. Fieldwork was conducted face-to-face on 24-27 April 1998. Base: All respondents, unless stated. All figures are in percentages. Where percentages do not sum to 100, this may be due to multiple responses, the exclusion of don't knows or computer rounding. Data were weighted to match the profile of the population. An asterisk (*) denotes a figure between zero and 0.5%.
More insights about Public Sector
