Political Attitudes in Great Britain for August 1997

Research study conducted for The Times Newspaper MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 1,758 adults aged 18+ at 163 sampling points across Great Britain between 21-25 August 1997.

28 August 1997

Research study conducted for The Times NewspaperMORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 1,758 adults aged 18+ at 163 sampling points across Great Britain between 21-25 August 1997.

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?
	%
Conservative	28
Labour	54
Lib Dem	15
Scot / Welsh Nationalist	2
Green Party	*
Referendum Party	1
Other	*

Would not vote	7
Undecided	4
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?
	Satisfied	Dissatisfied	Don't know
	%	%	%
Government	48	27	25
Blair	65	19	16
Hague	22	28	50
Ashdown	58	15	27

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?
	Q7	Q7/8
	%	%
Unemployment/factory closure/lack of industry	17	35
National Health Service/Hospitals	15	47
Education/schools	12	39
Crime/law & order/violence/vandalism	10	27
Common Market/EU/Europe/Single European Currency	9	16
Economy/economic situation	8	18
Pensions/welfare security	3	13
Drug abuse	3	9
Pollution/environment	2	11
Housing	2	9
Race relations/immigration/immigrants	2	5
Transport/public transport	1	7
Morality/individual behaviour	1	5
Inflation/prices	1	5
Northern Ireland	1	2
Scottish/Welsh Assembly	1	1
Taxation	*	2
Defence/foreign affairs	*	2
Beef/BSE/Mad Cow Disease	*	1
Countryside/rural life	*	1
Pound/exchange rate/value of pound	*	1
Animal welfare	*	1
Local government/council tax	*	1
Nuclear weapons/nuclear war/disarmament	0	1
AIDS	*	*
Privatisation	*	*
Trade unions/strikes	0	*
Other	5	14
Don't know	6	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?
	%
Improve	29
Stay the same	32
Get worse	31
Don't know	8

As you may know, the Government will be giving people in Scotland the chance to vote in a referendum about setting up a parliament for Scotland The Scottish Parliament would control most functions of government in Scotland, but Scotland would remain part of the United Kingdom.

Q10 Would you support or oppose the setting up of a parliament for Scotland while remaining part of the United Kingdom?
	%
Support	59
Oppose	25
Don't know	16

Q11 At the moment, Scotland has more MPs per head of population than England. If Scotland has its own parliament, do you think the number of Scottish MPs at Westminster should be reduced or should it stay the same as it is at the moment?
	%
Reduced	52
Stay the same	34
Don't know	14

Q12 Do you think that voters in England should or should not have the opportunity to vote on the proposals for setting up a Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly?
	%
Yes should have the opportunity	43
No should not have the opportunity	47
Don't know	10

Q13 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	23
Labour	44
Lib Dem	13
Scot / Welsh Nationalist	1
Referendum Party	1
Green Party	*
Other	*
Did not vote	14
Too young	1
Can't remember	1
Refused	2

Technical details

MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 1,758 adults aged 18+ at 163 sampling points across Great Britain. Interviews were conducted face-to-face on 21-25 August 1997. Data were weighted to match the profile of the population.

The voting intention figures exclude those who say they would not vote (7%), are undecided (4%) 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. An asterisk (*) denotes a figure between zero and 0.5%.

More insights about Public Sector

Society