PUBLIC OPINION. Monitor. the. contents. reflecting the mood and attitudes of British people

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1 the PUBLIC OPINION Monitor reflecting the mood and attitudes of British people Contact Nick Howat, TNS-BMRB t: +44 (0) e: w: In this the first of an ongoing series, TNS Public Opinion Monitor looks at some key questions of importance for British people. First, we look at those policy priorities that they consider the most critical to them. Next we look at how people feel about British society. We consider public reactions to the service delivery models of local and central government. We will also examine a snapshot of household finances and how salary cuts are being felt throughout the country. Finally we consider charity, and whether rising costs in the home and in a weekly shop is having a detrimental effect on those who support charitable causes. contents Policy Priorities What governmental issues are ranked highest by the British public? Living in Britain The state of living in Britain are we happy with our quality of life? Local Vs National How do we look at central government and its effect on local communities, and views? Time and Money Are households feeling the pressure as inflation, and job fears, grow? Charity How the public views charity is it best to donate time or money?

2 Policy Priorities The Public Opinion Monitor asks people to rank 8 areas in terms of the biggest challenges that Britain is facing today and these rankings are then converted in to an average importance score for each area. The areas that respondents were asked to rank were: Inflation/Rising prices Unemployment National Health Service Education National security defence Level of taxation Crime/Law & order Environment The results show that economic concerns are clearly at the forefront of people s minds with inflation/rising prices occupying the highest average score (72) closely followed by unemployment (65). In contrast to this, national security and the environment were towards the bottom of the list with average scores of 29 and 21 respectively. For young people aged 18-24, unemployment was actually identified as the most important challenge facing the country with inflation only the second most important. Priorities also varied by the party voted for at the last election. For Conservative voters unemployment was only the 4th most important challenge with both crime and the NHS having higher scores albeit only by small margins. 72 Inflation/ Rising prices The biggest challenges that Britain is facing today BIGGEST CHALLENGE Unemployment National Health Service Crime/Law & order decreasing importance Level of taxataion Inflation/Rising prices Concerns by political party Unemployment National Health Service Crime/Law & order Level of taxation Education National security defence Environment Education National security defence Environment SMALLEST CHALLENGE Total Total Conservative Labour Lib Dem Conservat Labour Lib Dem Base: All who said how they voted (1174); Labour voters (221); Conservative voters (275); Liberal Democrat voters (170); Other party voters (67); Did not vote (441) Average importance score

3 Living in Britain The Public Opinion Monitor looks at how people feel about Britain by asking whether they agree or disagree that it is one of the best countries in the world to live in both at a general level and then for people in specific situations. At the overall level most people agreed that Britain was one of the best countries in the world to live in, (69%). However, when respondents were asked to consider people in specific situations the scores declined. Only 61% agreed that it is one of the best countries to work in and only 60% agreed that it was one of the best countries to bring up children in. The measure with the lowest agreement was the statement that Britain is one of the best countries in the world to grow old in where less than half agreed (48%). Chart 5. Britain is one of the best countries in the world to Disagree slightly Disagree slightly Don t know Agree slightly Live in Agree strongly Around one in eight people (13%) disagreed that Britain was one of the best countries to live in for every one of the elements they were asked about. Full time workers were significantly more likely to have this negative perspective than those who were not currently working (16% cf. 9%). Work in Bring children up in Go on holiday in Grow old in Disagree Agree Base: All with an opinion (1173 to 1248)

4 Local Vs National A key tenet informing the policy direction of the coalition government is that decisions about how services are delivered are best made at the local level rather than nationally at Westminster. The Public Opinion Monitor tracks how people feel about this by asking them to trade off between the two concepts of local freedom and equality of access with the following question: Some people think that local communities should have the freedom to decide how services are run, even if that results in certain services being available in some parts of the country and not in others. Other people think that it is more important that everybody receives an equal service even if that means that local communities have less freedom to decide how those services are delivered. Which of these is closest to your view? The first sweep of the Public Opinion Monitor shows that a significant majority would rather that local communities had autonomy in decision making (61% cf. 39%). However this varied by political party. Only half of all Labour voters (50%) supported the idea of local autonomy compared to two third of Conservative voters (65%). Interestingly Liberal Democrat voters were slightly closer to Conservative voters in their support for local autonomy (61%). Chart 1. How services are run: central government versus local government 39% 61% Central government should make sure that services are delivered in the same way in all parts of the country Local government should have the freedom to decide how services are run in their area Base: All with an opinion (17)

5 Time and Money As the economic recovery is slow to build momentum, and while prices rise and government cuts are on the horizon household finances are under more pressure than they have been in recent memory. With this in mind the Public Opinion Monitor seeks to track the extent to which people are feeling under financial pressure by asking whether they would trade off extra days working against a higher salary when presented with two hypothetical jobs. Respondents were asked to choose between either: a) A job where they worked 5 days a week and earned 25,000 a year b) A job where they worked 6 days a week and earned 40,000 a year It is interesting to note that even in a time of unprecedented financial pressure around a third of people (32%) would still protect their free time even when presented with a significantly higher paid role. [Chart ]. A job where you worked five days a week and earned 25k People living in North West most likely to agree (40.6%) Chart. Priorities: If you had to choose between the two, which of the following jobs do you think you would rather have? 32% 8% Don t know Base: All respondents (1274) 59% A job where you worked six days a week and earned 40k

6 Charity As we have seen, people feel that inflation is the most important challenge facing Britain today. This then leads to a concern that the pressure which rising costs place on household budgets will then have a follow on impact on people s attitudes towards donating money to charity. The Public Opinion Monitor found that two out of every five people feel they have a responsibility to give money to charities. There was a marked difference between men and women when it came to feeling a responsibility to donate money. Just 35% of men said they felt a responsibility compared to 45% of women. Attitudes also varied by age and it was the younger who were more charitable. Just under half of year olds (47%) said they felt a responsibility to give money to charity compared to around a third of the over 55s (37%). Women aged were one of the few demographic groups where over half (53%) felt that they had a responsibility to give money. Chart 3. Whether feels have a responsibility to give money to charities or other good causes Base: All with an opinion (1102) Yes 40% No 60% Chart 4. age group Have responsibility to give money 45% 48% 34% 42% 35% 38% For more information on The Public Opinion Monitor, please contact: Nick Howat, TNS-BMRB No responsibility 55% 52% 66% 58% 65% 62% t: +44 (0) e: nick.howat@tns-bmrb.co.uk w: Base: All respondents excluding those who said Don t know (1102) (118); 25-34s (180); 35-44s (202); 45-54s (187); (173); 65+ (242)