Some further comparisons of British attitudes half-a-century ago, around the time of the coronation, with the way we think today, this time concentrating on work and leisure. (As before, for the 1950s we are heavily reliant on surveys from Gallup, the only pollster then publishing regular public opinion surveys, the findings of which survive in book form - George H Gallup, The Gallup International Public Opinion Polls: Great Britain 1937-1975, New York: Random House, 1976, and Anthony King and Robert Wybrow, British Political Opinion 1937-2000: The Gallup Polls, London: Politico's, 2001.)
Eight people in ten disagree that "Directors of large companies can be trusted to tell the truth", according to the MORI poll conducted for the Financial Times last week.
Who exercise 'consumer power'? Do you recall that at the turn of the year I wrote about Consuming Passions in my monthly column? That article warned PR practitioners to think about who wields consumer power, and gave some clues of who in our society does what to express their ire against organisations which failed to live up to expectation.
In recent years, many people have begun to notice that the UK's population profile is shifting towards those of a more advanced age .Commentary by Andy Martin
Ten years, ago, in April 1993, MORI began combining monthly measurements of general pessimism about the future state of the national economy, fear of redundancy among those in work and the level of unemployment, to calculate what we initially called the MORI Misery Index. After having a little fun discovering that (inevitably) the Scots were more miserable than the rest of us, it was eventually rechristened under its current name of the MORI Financial Services Mood of the Nation index. Still indexed on the findings of the first survey, April 1993=100 (with an index higher than 100 meaning that the public is less pessimistic than in 1993 and lower than 100 more pessimistic), it charts a fascinating monthly picture of the peaks and troughs of the public mood over the last decade.
The British participation in the American-led invasion of Iraq was, at the moment it began, possibly the least popular war with the British public of any in which British troops have joined since opinion polls first began. But no sooner had the first shots been fired than public opinion started to swing in favour of British involvement in the war and kept on going. Within a couple of days the polls were finding solid majorities in favour where previously they had found solid majorities against, a movement which even reports of civilian casualties, "friendly-fire" incidents and later widespread looting and lawlessness apparently did nothing to check. The scale of the change of opinions makes it one of the most dramatic turnarounds that MORI has measured.
Big events shape public opinion. Public opinion shapes the political scene. Four months before the invasion of the Falklands, Mrs. Thatcher was the least popular prime minister in polling history. John Major was little known when he became Prime Minister in November 1990, just before the Gulf War. His rating rose faster than anyone before. However, after Black Wednesday, his rating fell even faster. After dropping sharply over the past year, Blair's satisfaction rating took a 12 point jump between the end of February and the end of March.
The British public very nearly to a man (sic) say they are 'interested' in news coverage of the war in Iraq. More than four people in ten (43%) express the view that they are 'very' interested and another 42% are 'fairly' interested, making 85% in all, while one person in twenty, 5% say they are not at all interested, and another one in ten, 9%, saying they are 'not very interested'. Somewhat more men than women are 'very interested' in news coverage of the war, but perhaps not by as wide a margin as one might expect: All 43%, men 47%, women 40%.
