MORI Political Monitor, August 1998

Public Sector

Political Attitudes in Great Britain for August 1998, including questions on the Monarchy and Royal Family

 

Research study conducted for The Times Newspaper MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 1,886 adults aged 18+ at 155 sampling points across Great Britain between 21-24 August 1998.

Q1 How would you vote if there were a General Election tomorrow? [If undecided or refused at Q1] Q2 Which party are you most inclined to support? Base: 1,886
  %
Conservative 28
Labour 52
Liberal Democrats 14
Scottish/Welsh Nationalist 4
Green Party 1
Referendum Party *
Other 1
Would not vote 9
Undecided 7
Refused 2
Q3 Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way the Government is running the country? Q4 Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Mr Blair is doing his job as Prime Minister? Q5 Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Mr Hague is doing his job as leader of the Conservative Party? Q6 Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Mr Ashdown is doing his job as Leader of the Liberal Democrats? Base: 994
  Satisfied Dissatisfied Don't know
  % % %
Government 47 40 13
Blair 65 26 9
Hague 23 46 31
Ashdown 50 20 30

 

Q7 What would you say is the most important issue facing Britain today? Q8 What do you see as other important issues facing Britain today? Base: 994
  Q7 Q7/8
  % %
National Health Service/Hospitals 12 41
Unemployment/factory closure/lack of industry 17 36
Education/schools 9 33
Economy/economic situation 13 26
Crime/law & order/violence/vandalism 7 21
Common Market/EU/Europe/Single European Currency 8 13
Pensions/welfare security 2 12
Northern Ireland 6 11
Drug abuse 1 8
Defence/foreign affairs 2 7
Housing 2 7
Pollution/environment 1 7
Poverty/inequality 2 7
Inflation/prices 1 4
Morality/individual behaviour 2 4
Race relations/immigration/immigrants 2 4
Taxation 1 4
Transport/public transport * 4
Nuclear weapons/nuclear war/disarmament 1 2
Countryside/rural life * 1
Local government/council tax * 1
Pound/exchange rate/value of pound 1 1
Scottish/Welsh Assembly/Devolution * 1
AIDS 0 *
Animal welfare 0 *
Beef/BSE/Mad Cow Disease 0 *
Privatisation 0 *
Trade unions/strikes 0 *
Other 4 13
Don't know 6 5

 

Q9 Do you think that the general economic condition of the country will improve, stay the same, or get worse over the next 12 months? Base: 994
  %
Improve 18
Stay the same 30
Get worse 45
Don't know 6

 

Q10 Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Prince Charles is doing his job as Prince of Wales? Q11 Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way the Queen is doing her job as Monarch? Base: 994
  Prince Charles Queen
  % %
Satisfied 63 73
Dissatisfied 24 18
Don't know 13 10

 

Q12 On balance, do you think Britain would be better off or worse off if the monarchy was abolished, or do you think it would make no difference? Base: 994
  %
Better off 15
Worse off 53
Make no difference 29
Don't know 3

 

Q13 Taking your answer from this card, how do you feel about the amount of coverage the media has been giving to the Royal Family over the last year. Has it given much too much coverage, a little too much coverage, about the right amount of coverage, a little too little coverage or much too little coverage? Base: 994
  %
Much too much 33
A little too much 29
About the right amount 33
A little too little 3
Much too little *
Don't know 2

 

Q14 Taking your answer from this card, how do you feel about the amount of coverage the media has been giving to Princess Diana and the events surrounding her death over the last year. Has it given much too much coverage, a little too much coverage, about the right amount of coverage, a little too little coverage or much too little coverage? Base: 994
  %
Much too much 63
A little too much 20
About the right amount 14
A little too little 1
Much too little 1
Don't know 1

Technical details

MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 1,886 adults aged 18+ at 155 sampling points across Great Britain. Fieldwork was conducted face-to-face on 21-24 August 1998. Base: All respondents, unless stated. The voting intention figures exclude those who say they would not vote (9%), are undecided (7%) or refuse to name a party (2%). 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%.

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