Political Attitudes in Great Britain for April 1998
Research study conducted for The Times Newspaper - published 24-27 April 1998 MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 1,926 adults aged 18+ at 164 sampling points across Great Britain between 30 April 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: 1,926
% Conservative 27 Labour 55 Lib Dem 14 Scot / Welsh Nationalist 3 Green Party 1 Referendum Party * Other * Would not vote 9 Undecided 5 Refused 1
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: 930
Satisfied Dissatisfied Don't know % % % Government 54 32 14 Blair 68 22 10 Hague 27 42 31 Ashdown 52 18 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: 930
Q7 / 8 % Education / schools 39 National Health Service / Hospitals 35 Unemployment / factory closure / lack of industry 31 Common Market / EU / Europe / Single European Currency 23 Crime / law & order / violence / vandalism 21 Economy / economic situation 14 Pensions / social security 13 Northern Ireland 10 Drug abuse 9 Poverty / inequality 9 Pollution / environment 8 Housing 6 Morality / individual behaviour 6 Race relations / immigration / immigrants 6 Defence / foreign affairs 5 Inflation / prices 3 Taxation 3 Transport / public transport 3 Countryside / rural life 2 Nuclear weapons / nuclear war / disarmament 2 Beef / BSE / Mad Cow Disease 1 Local government / council tax 1 Pound / exchange rate / value of pound 1 AIDS * Animal welfare * Privatisation * Scottish / Welsh Assembly / Devolution * Trade unions / strikes * Other 11 Don't know 4
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: 930
% Improve 28 Stay the same 38 Get worse 27 Don't know 7
Q10-12 Here is a list of things both favourable and unfavourable that have been said about various politicians. I would like you to pick out all those statements that you feel fit ... - Base: 930
Mr Blair Mr Hague Mr Ashdown % % % A capable leader 53 11 34 Good in a crisis 25 3 14 Understands world problems 37 9 23 Tends to talk down to people 13 20 7 Rather narrow minded 5 15 6 Too inflexible 7 9 4 Has sound judgement 24 8 21 More honest than most politicians 29 11 28 Down-to-earth 29 10 29 Understands the problems facing Britain 44 14 28 Patriotic 26 22 30 Has got a lot of personality 42 5 23 Rather inexperienced 20 46 7 Out of touch with ordinary people 13 30 8 Don't know / no opinion 6 24 24
Q13 Which of these statements best describes your opinion on the present system of governing Britain? - Base: 996
% Works extremely well and could not be improved 4 Could be improved in small ways but mainly works well 37 Could be improved quite a lot 39 Needs a great deal of improvement 15 Don't know 5
The System of Government - Trends
Which of these statements best describes your opinion on the present system of government Britain? - Base: c. 1,000 - 2,000
1991 and 1995 'State of the Nation' MORI / Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Ltd
Crowther Hunt 2-3 April 24-27 April Change 1973 1991 1995 1997 1998 97-98 % % % % % 177% Works extremely well and could not be improved 5 4 3 2 4 +2 Could be improved in small ways but mainly works well 43 29 19 26 37 +11 Could be improved quite a lot 35 40 40 40 39 -1 Needs a great deal of improvement 14 23 35 29 15 -14 Don't know 4 5 3 3 5 +2 Works well 48 33 22 28 41 +13 Could be improved 49 63 75 69 54 -15
Technical details
MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 1,926 adults aged 18+ at 164 sampling points across Great Britain. Fieldwork was conducted face-to-face on 24-27 April 1998. Base: All respondents, unless stated. The voting intention figures exclude those who say they would not vote (9%), are undecided (5%) or refuse to name a party (1%). 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%.
