Survey On Support For Elected City Mayors

• There is majority backing among residents of the cities surveyed for the introduction of elected mayors in major cities and for referenda to be held on the issue
• Two in three support having an elected mayor to run their city (66%), compared with one in five who are opposed (19%)
• There are similar levels of support for the introduction of elected mayors among all key demographic sub-groups and in the five cities surveyed
• Opposition does, however, increase with age - while 8% of 18-24 year olds are opposed, the equivalent figure is 22% among those aged 65 or over
• People in the cities surveyed are five times as likely to support holding a referendum on the issue as they are to oppose (68% against 14%). Again, there are no statistically significant differences between sub-groups
• Nine in ten respondents (91%) agree with the statement "In general, local councils need to get better at providing services", including 64% who strongly agree
• Similar proportions of the public think that councils need to consult the public more - 92% agree, including 69% who agree strongly.
• There is an even split between those who were aware that London is going to have an elected mayor for London (49%) and those who were not (51%). Awareness is higher among older age groups
• Those who are aware of London's elected mayor are no more likely to support the initiative being adopted in their city than those who are unaware
• There are no significant differences between supporters of the different political parties in the levels of support for the mayoral and referenda initiatives

I would like to ask you about the way local councils are run ...

Q1 Residents of London will be able to vote for the mayor of their choice to govern London in the future. Did you know about this before this interview?

Q2 It is being proposed that residents in major cities can demand the local council hold a referendum on whether or not to have an elected mayor. Do you support or oppose there being a referendum on whether (CITY) should have an elected mayor to run the city?

Q3 Do you support or oppose (CITY) having an elected mayor to run the city?

I would now like to ask you about local councils in general. Do you agree or disagree that ......?

Q4 In general, local councils need to get better at providing services

Q5 In general, local councils need to consult the public more

Technical details

MORI interviewed 1,004 adults aged 18+ by telephone on 24-25 October 1998.

The sample contained approximately 200 interviews conducted in each of five City Council areas: Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield. Final data was weighted according to the relative populations of the five cities and by the overall demographic profile.

Where percentages do not add up to exactly 100%, this may be due to computer rounding, the exclusion of don't knows or to multiple answers. An asterisk (*) indicates a figure below one half of a percent.