Papers And Local Elections

Survey during the 2001 general election campaign on local elections and readers' views of the political stances of Britain's daily and Sunday newspapers

  • MORI interviewed 1,977 British adults aged 18+
  • Interviews were conducted using MORI's MFS Omnibus and were face-to-face, in-home
  • Fieldwork was 31 May-5 June 2001
  • Results are based on all respondents unless otherwise stated
  • Data are weighted to the known population profile
  • An '*' indicates a finding of less than 0.5%, but greater than zero
  • Where percentages do not add up to exactly 100% this may be due to computer rounding, the exclusion of "don't knows" or to multiple answers

QV1 How do you intend to vote at the General Election on June 7th? IF UNDECIDED OR REFUSED AT QV1 QV2 Which party are you most inclined to support?

  %
Conservative 28
Labour 50
Liberal Democrats (Lib Dem) 16
Scottish/Welsh Nationalist (SNP, Plaid Cymru) 3
Green Party 1
Referendum/UKIP/Democratic Party 1
Other 2

Lab lead over Conservatives +22

Would not vote 11
Undecided 9
Refused 3

QV3 Can you tell me how likely you are to vote at the General Election?

  %
Certain to vote 60
Very likely to vote 12
Quite likely to vote 10
Not very likely to vote 6
Certain not to vote 11
Don't know 1

Q4 As far as you are aware, are there local elections in your area on the same day as the General Election or not?

  %
Yes, there are elections 51
No, are not elections 21
Don't know 28

Q4a As far as you are aware, are there local elections in your area on the same day as the General Election or not?

Base: All with local elections (798) %
Yes, there are elections 78
No, are not elections 6
Don't know 16

QV5 In fact, there are local elections in your area. If you do get along to vote in the local elections, which party will you vote for? IF UNDECIDED OR REFUSED AT QV5 QV6 Which party are you most inclined to support?

Base: All with local elections (798) %
Conservative 37
Labour 37
Liberal Democrats (Lib Dem) 21
Scottish/Welsh Nationalist (SNP, Plaid Cymru) 0
Green Party 1
Referendum/UKIP/Democratic Party *
Independent candidate 3
Other 1

Lab lead over Conservatives 0

Would not vote 12
Undecided 12
Refused 2

Q7 Can you tell me how likely you are to get along to vote at the local elections?

Base: All with local elections (798) %
Certain to vote 56
Very likely to vote 14
Quite likely to vote 10
Not very likely to vote 7
Certain not to vote 11
Don't know 2

Q8 And 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?

Base: All (1,977) %
Yes, registered to vote in this constituency 94
Yes, registered to vote somewhere else 2
No, not registered to vote 3
Don't know 1

Q9 Have you applied for a postal or proxy vote for the General Election, or do you intend to do so?

Base: All (1,977) %
Yes, have applied for postal 4
Yes, have applied for proxy *
Yes, intend to apply for postal *
Yes, intend to apply for proxy *
No, neither 95
Don't know *

N.B. Fieldwork 31 May - 5 June

Q10 Which party did you vote for at the General Election in May 1997? If you are not sure, or did not vote, please say so.

  %
Conservative 20
Labour 41
Liberal Democrat 10
Scottish/Welsh Nationalist 2
Green *
Referendum Party 1
Other 1

Did not vote 15
Too young 5
Can't remember 3
Refused 2

Q Which daily newspapers, if any, do you read regularly? By regularly I mean on average at least three out of ever four issues?

  %
Daily Express 5
Daily Mail 13
Daily Mirror 13
Daily Record 4
Daily Telegraph 7
Evening Standard 1
Financial Times 1
The Guardian 3
Herald (Glasgow) *
The Independent 1
The Scotsman *
Daily Star 2
The Sun 16
The Times 5
None of these 40

Q Which Sunday newspapers, if any, do you read regularly? By regularly I mean on average at least three out of ever four issues?

  %
News of the World 17
Sunday Express 4
Sunday Mail (Scotland only) 4
Sunday Mirror 8
Sunday Post 3
Sunday Telegraph 5
The Mail on Sunday 11
The Observer 2
The People 4
The Sunday Times 8
Scotland on Sunday *
The Independent on Sunday 1
Sunday Business *
Sunday Herald (Glasgow) *
None of these 44

Q11 Do you think the .... mainly supports or opposes the Conservative Party, or neither particularly supports nor opposes it?

  Support Oppose Neither Net
Base: All readers % % % %
Daily Express (83 readers) 27 9 38 +18
Daily Mail (237) 64 2 21 +62
Daily Mirror (259) 5 61 12 -56
Daily Record (84) 2 50 17 -48
Daily Telegraph (111) 74 2 19 +72
Evening Standard (19*) 24 19 22 +5
Financial Times (10*) 6 12 82 -6
The Guardian (48) 0 57 32 -57
The Independent (26) 0 16 84 -16
Daily Star (39*) 0 18 15 -18
The Sun (338) 14 36 25 -22
The Times (78*) 37 8 46 +29

News of the World (347) 10 24 26 -14
Sunday Express (67) 32 7 36 +25
Sunday Mail [Scotland only] (88) 5 36 25 -31
Sunday Mirror (165) 6 49 18 -43
Sunday Post (57) 8 6 35 +2
Sunday Telegraph (82) 83 0 11 +83
The Mail on Sunday (199) 62 4 20 +58
The Observer (39*) 7 61 28 -54
The Sunday People (92) 4 37 15 -33
The Sunday Times (121) 29 7 52 +22
The Independent on Sunday (23*) 4 26 64 -22

N.B. some small base sizes, those below 10 have been excluded Remaining % answer 'don't know'

Q12 Do you think the .... mainly supports or opposes the Labour Party, or neither particularly supports nor opposes it?

  Support Oppose Neither Net
Base: All readers % % % %
Daily Express (83) 11 12 53 -1
Daily Mail (237) 5 54 26 -49
Daily Mirror (259) 64 3 12 +61
Daily Record (84) 53 2 15 +51
Daily Telegraph (111) 2 55 38 -53
Evening Standard (19*) 11 41 11 -30
Financial Times (10*) 20 0 80 +20
The Guardian (48) 57 2 31 +55
The Independent (26*) 8 0 92 +8
Daily Star (39*) 26 0 16 +26
The Sun (338) 43 9 25 +34
The Times (78) 21 26 50 -5

News of the World (347) 30 8 26 +22
Sunday Express (67) 10 12 51 -2
Sunday Mail [Scotland only] (88) 43 3 19 +40
Sunday Mirror (165) 54 5 16 +49
Sunday Post (57) 16 10 31 +6
Sunday Telegraph (82) 7 54 32 -47
The Mail on Sunday (199) 6 53 27 -47
The Observer (39*) 55 7 33 +48
The Sunday People (92) 42 7 15 +35
The Sunday Times (121) 16 20 50 -4
The Independent on Sunday (23*) 10 10 71 0

N.B. some small base sizes, those below 10 have been excluded Remaining % answer 'don't know'

Q13 Do you think the .... mainly supports or opposes the Liberal Democrats, or neither particularly supports nor opposes it?

  Support Oppose Neither Net
Base: All readers % % % %
Daily Express (83) 1 6 61 -5
Daily Mail (237) 4 20 55 -16
Daily Mirror (259) 4 10 56 -6
Daily Record (84) 2 12 47 -10
Daily Telegraph (111) 5 20 66 -15
Evening Standard (19*) 4 10 52 -6
Financial Times (10) 0 0 80 0
The Guardian (48*) 31 2 54 +29
The Independent (26*) 8 0 92 +8
Daily Star (39*) 0 5 27 -5
The Sun (338) 3 10 53 -7
The Times (78) 6 6 77 0

News of the World (347) 4 7 46 -3
Sunday Express (67) 1 2 57 -1
Sunday Mail [Scotland only] (88) 1 11 42 -10
Sunday Mirror (165) 3 14 49 -11
Sunday Post (57) 7 0 44 +7
Sunday Telegraph (82) 4 20 62 -16
The Mail on Sunday (199) 1 18 59 -17
The Observer (39*) 31 3 55 +28
The Sunday People (92) 2 8 45 -6
The Sunday Times (121) 4 4 71 0
The Independent on Sunday (23*) 15 6 67 9

N.B. some small base sizes, those below 10 have been excluded Remaining % answer 'don't know'

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