Sky high public approval for the Queen ahead of Platinum Jubilee
As bunting starts to be put up all over the country and people prepare for street parties, flypasts and other Platinum Jubilee activities, new polling by Ipsos shows almost 9 in 10 Britons are satisfied with how the Queen does her job and more than two in three are keen for Britain to remain a Monarchy.
Satisfaction with key royals
Almost 9 in 10 (86%) say they are satisfied with the way the Queen is doing her job with only 1 in 10 (7%) dissatisfied. Older Britons are most satisfied with her job performance, 95% of people aged 55+ are satisfied compared to 75% of 18-34s.
Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, also sees widespread satisfaction with the job he is doing from the public. 8 in 10 (81%) are pleased with his work, up from 73% in November 2021. Only 8% are dissatisfied with the way he is doing his job as Duke of Cambridge. Women are more likely to be satisfied than men (85% vs 76%).
While his satisfaction levels are slightly lower than those of his mother and son, a majority are still satisfied with the work of Prince Charles in his role as the Prince of Wales. Two-thirds (65%) are pleased compared to 18% who are not.
Future of the Monarchy
Now, almost 7 in 10 (68%) are in favour of Britain remaining a monarchy, up 8 percentage points since November last year, while only 22% would support the country becoming a republic, showing little change since the end of 2021 (or over the past two decades).
Meanwhile, almost half (45%) say the country would be worse off if the Monarchy was abolished, up from 39% in November 2021, while only 13% believe the nation would be better off without it, 11% said the same last year. Now, a third (33%) believe abolishing the Monarchy would make no difference to the country, down from 41% last year.
However, many Britons are sceptical about the long-term future of the Monarchy. While a large majority (79%) believe Britain will have a monarchy in 10 years-time, less than half (42%) believe it will still exist in 50 years and even fewer think it will be present in 100 years (29%).
Figures have seen little change since November last year however there have been significant changes in the last 10 years. In 2012, 4 in 10 (42%) expected the Monarchy to still exist in 100 years while 6 in 10 said they would exist in 50 years. Nine in 10 (90%) were correct in saying the Monarchy would be present in 10 years (which was clearly correct).
Keiran Pedley, Director of Research at Ipsos in the UK, said:
As we look ahead to the platinum jubilee, the Monarchy is still very popular in Britain. Two-thirds would like to see Britain continue to be a monarchy and the minority that would like to see a republic – one in five – has not really changed much over time. Meanwhile, public satisfaction with the Queen and Prince William is sky high and whilst satisfaction with Prince Charles is lower, he is still much more popular than any of our leading politicians.
Technical note
Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,013 adults aged 18+ across Great Britain. Interviews were conducted by telephone: 11th to 17th May 2022. Data are weighted to match the profile of the population. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error.
