Occupy Britain?

The Occupy protests in London have moved out of the headlines as the protestors have been forced to move on from St. Paul’s Cathedral. However, at the height of the movement back in November last year, the British public were somewhat apathetic towards their cause according to research by Ipsos carried out online in 24 countries. While half of Britons (53%) sympathised with the “Occupy” movement only around a quarter (28%) were favourable towards the protests. On balance the British public were more favourable than unfavourable towards the Occupy movement (28% and 18% respectively) however, most people were undecided (54%). This makes for an interesting comparison with the American public – while just as many Americans were favourable (29%) more were unfavourable (27%). Indeed Americans were also less sympathetic than Britons were towards the movement. Only 14% of Britons did not sympathise with the Occupy protestors compared to 24% of Americans. Favourability was higher in other European countries such as Spain (49%) and Italy (44%). Perhaps unsurprisingly the public in the US and Canada were the most familiar with the Occupy protests with around six in ten adults saying they are familiar with the movement (61% in the USA and 60% in Canada). Familiarity was significantly lower across Europe: 45% in Britain and Italy and 46% in Spain. Just 18% of French say they were familiar with the Occupy movement.

Technical note

Global @dvisor is a monthly online survey conducted by Ipsos via the Ipsos Online Panel system in 24 countries around the world. For the results of the survey presented herein, an international sample of 21,245 age 18-64 in the US and Canada, and age 16-64 in all other countries, were interviewed between 6 and 19 December. Approximately 1000+ individuals participated on a country by country basis via the Ipsos Online Panel with the exception of Argentina, Belgium, Greece, Indonesia, Ireland, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden and Turkey, where each have a sample approximately 500+. Weighting was employed to balance demographics and ensure the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to the most recent country Census data available and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe, (in the small number of developing countries where access to the internet is limited respondents are more likely to be affluent and well connected than the average member of the population.)