Political Attitudes in Great Britain for May 1998
Research study conducted for The Times Newspaper - published 28 May 1998 MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 1,832 adults aged 18+ at 155 sampling points across Great Britain between 21-24 May 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: 1,832
| % | |
| Conservative | 26 |
| Labour | 55 |
| Lib Dem | 14 |
| Scot / Welsh Nationalist | 3 |
| Green Party | 1 |
| Referendum Party | 0 |
| Other | 1 |
| Would not vote | 9 |
| Undecided | 6 |
| 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: 905
| Satisfied | Dissatisfied | Don't know | |
| % | % | % | |
| Government | 52 | 31 | 17 |
| Blair | 67 | 23 | 10 |
| Hague | 21 | 46 | 33 |
| Ashdown | 51 | 17 | 32 |
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: 905
| Q7 / 8 | |
| % | |
| National Health Service / Hospitals | 49 |
| Education / schools | 39 |
| Unemployment / factory closure / lack of industry | 30 |
| Common Market / EU / Europe / Single European Currency | 22 |
| Crime / law & order / violence / vandalism | 20 |
| Economy / economic situation | 13 |
| Pensions / social security | 12 |
| Northern Ireland | 11 |
| Housing | 7 |
| Poverty / inequality | 7 |
| Pollution / environment | 6 |
| Drug abuse | 5 |
| Inflation / prices | 5 |
| Defence / foreign affairs | 4 |
| Transport / public transport | 4 |
| Morality / individual behaviour | 3 |
| Race relations / immigration / immigrants | 3 |
| Taxation | 3 |
| Local government / council tax | 2 |
| Beef / BSE / Mad Cow Disease | 1 |
| Countryside / rural life | 1 |
| Nuclear weapons / nuclear war / disarmament | 1 |
| Pound / exchange rate / value of pound | 1 |
| Privatisation | 1 |
| Scottish / Welsh Assembly / Devolution | 1 |
| AIDS | * |
| Animal welfare | * |
| Trade unions / strikes | * |
| Other | 11 |
| Don't know | 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: 905
| % | |
| Improve | 26 |
| Stay the same | 39 |
| Get worse | 25 |
| Don't know | 10 |
Q10 Looking ahead to the next General Election, which, if any of these issues do you think will be very important to you in helping you decide which party to vote for? - Base: 905
| % | |
| Animal welfare | 12 |
| Constitution / devolution | 8 |
| Defence | 12 |
| Education | 62 |
| Europe | 26 |
| Health care | 66 |
| Housing | 23 |
| Law and order | 45 |
| Managing the economy | 34 |
| Northern Ireland | 15 |
| Pensions | 36 |
| Protecting the natural environment | 22 |
| Public transport | 23 |
| Taxation | 32 |
| Trade Unions | 5 |
| Unemployment | 50 |
| Other | 1 |
| Don't know | 5 |
Q11-26 I am going to read out a list of problems facing Britain today and for each one, I would like you to tell me whether you think that the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrat or some other party has the best policy on each. - Base: 905
| Con | Lab | Lib Dem | Other | None | Don't know | |
| % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| Animal welfare | 5 | 18 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 54 |
| Constitution / devolution | 15 | 32 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 40 |
| Defence | 25 | 28 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 35 |
| Education | 11 | 53 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 20 |
| Europe | 16 | 40 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 31 |
| Health care | 11 | 49 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 22 |
| Housing | 11 | 38 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 37 |
| Law and order | 18 | 37 | 4 | * | 10 | 31 |
| Managing the economy | 19 | 40 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 28 |
| Northern Ireland | 7 | 58 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 27 |
| Pensions | 17 | 27 | 6 | * | 10 | 40 |
| Protecting the natural environment | 9 | 22 | 15 | 11 | 9 | 34 |
| Public transport | 6 | 39 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 36 |
| Taxation | 21 | 34 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 29 |
| Trade Unions | 14 | 42 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 34 |
| Unemployment | 11 | 48 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 26 |
Q11-26 I am going to read out a list of problems facing Britain today and for each one, I would like you to tell me whether you think that the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrat or some other party has the best policy on each. - Base: All those thinking issues very important
| Con | Lab | Lib Dem | Other | None | Don't know | |
| % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| Animal welfare | 5 | 26 | 7 | 10 | 11 | 41 |
| Constitution / devolution | 26 | 41 | 12 | 7 | 6 | 8 |
| Defence | 41 | 24 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 26 |
| Education | 10 | 58 | 10 | 1 | 6 | 15 |
| Europe | 26 | 43 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 13 |
| Health care | 11 | 50 | 10 | 1 | 8 | 20 |
| Housing | 12 | 41 | 8 | 2 | 12 | 25 |
| Law and order | 22 | 41 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 21 |
| Managing the economy | 27 | 43 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 18 |
| Northern Ireland | 8 | 79 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| Pensions | 19 | 33 | 6 | * | 10 | 32 |
| Protecting the natural environment | 11 | 25 | 17 | 15 | 10 | 22 |
| Public transport | 3 | 50 | 10 | 5 | 12 | 20 |
| Taxation | 32 | 36 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 19 |
| Trade Unions | 22 | 49 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 23 |
| Unemployment | 10 | 52 | 7 | 1 | 11 | 19 |
Technical details
MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 1,832 adults aged 18+ at 155 sampling points across Great Britain. Fieldwork was conducted face-to-face on 21-24 May 1998. Base: All respondents, unless stated. The voting intention figures exclude those who say they would not vote (9%), are undecided (6%) 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%.
