Politics

The contest for Mayor of London has generated the most interest of any election this year, with the possible exception of the race for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.

Following a change in its remit, Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) commissioned Ipsos Scotland to undertake an independent review of all areas of its work with external stakeholders.

Ipsos's April Political Monitor (conducted 17-22 April 2008) shows the Conservatives leading over Labour by nine points among those 'certain to vote' at an upcoming general election (40% compared to 31%).

Ipsos's latest poll on the London Mayoral election puts Ken Livingstone ahead of Boris Johnson by 52% to 48%, among those registered to vote who say they are "absolutely certain to vote", but the gap is not big enough to be statistically significant.

Ipsos interview a representative quota sampe of 600 adults in London aged 18+ and asked those absolutely certain to vote a few questions.

Ipsos's poll on the London Mayoral election, carried out 1-7 April 2008 for the trade union UNISON, shows the first preference results are 41% for Ken Livingstone, 40% for Boris Johnson, 14% for Brian Paddick, and 5% for Sian Berry among those saying they are "certain to vote" (48%).

Ipsos's Economic Optimism Index, which measures public optimism about the future of the economy, is currently the lowest it has been since March 1980.

Trust in the BBC has widely been called into question in recent months, with scandals over a Blue Peter phone-in vote and the documentary about the Queen. Despite this, the UK public are most likely to trust the BBC out of a range of British institutions, much more than they trust the government — which is just as well, since TV and radio broadcasters are seen by far more as being influential than are the government.

Despite 2007's political turbulence, public engagement in politics continues to decline