Political Attitudes in Great Britain for October 1997

Research study conducted for The Times Newspaper - published 30 October 1997 MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 1,772 adults aged 18+ at 166 sampling points across Great Britain between 24-27 October 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	24
Labour	60
Lib Dem	12
Scot / Welsh Nationalist	2
Green Party	*
Referendum Party	*
Other	1
Would not vote	9
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	55	22	23
Blair	72	15	12
Hague	23	41	36
Ashdown	59	15	26

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?

 

	Q7/8
	%
National Health Service/Hospitals	47
Education/schools	36
Common Market/EU/Europe/Single European Currency	35
Unemployment/factory closure/lack of industry	32
Crime/law & order/violence/vandalism	26
Economy/economic situation	14
Pensions/welfare security	12
Housing	8
Race relations/immigration/immigrants	8
Pollution/environment	7
Drug abuse	6
Morality/individual behaviour	4
Inflation/prices	4
Transport/public transport	3
Northern Ireland	2
Taxation	2
Defence/foreign affairs	2
Scottish/Welsh Assembly	1
Local government/council tax	1
Nuclear weapons/nuclear war/disarmament	1
AIDS	1
Animal welfare	1
Beef/BSE/Mad Cow Disease	1
Pound/exchange rate/value of pound	1
Privatisation	1
Countryside/rural life	*
Trade unions/strikes	*
Other	12
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?

 

	%
Improve	31
Stay the same	39
Get worse	24
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 ... Mr Blair / Mr Hague / Mr Ashdown.

 

	Mr Blair Q 10	Mr Hague Q 11	Mr Ashdown Q 12
	%	%	%
A capable leader	58	9	38
Good in a crisis	18	3	16
Understands world problems	31	6	24
Tends to talk down to people	9	21	7
Rather narrow minded	3	16	6
Too inflexible	6	9	5
Has sound judgement	27	5	21
More honest than most politicians	36	9	32
Down to earth	37	8	34
Understands the problems facing Britain	48	10	31
Patriotic	26	18	32
Has got a lot of personality	50	5	29
Rather inexperienced	19	52	6
Out of touch with ordinary people	6	29	6
No opinion	7	24	20

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	22
Labour	46
Lib Dem	10
Scot / Welsh Nationalist	1
Referendum Party	1
Green Party	*
Other	*
Did not vote	15
Too young	1
Can't remember	1
Refused	2

Technical details

MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 1,772 adults aged 18+ at 166 sampling points across Great Britain. Interviews were conducted face-to-face on 24-27 October 1997. Data were weighted to match the profile of the population.

The voting intention figures exclude those who say they would not vote (9%), 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%.