Make Votes Matter Polling, 8th-11th June 2018

A new poll by ICM, on behalf of Make Votes Matter, shows overwhelming support for PR. Tables here: ICM-Omnibus-National-Democracy-Week

Q1. The government has recently announced plans for ‘National Democracy Week’, a week-long celebration of British democracy. Do you think British democracy is something worth celebrating at the moment?

Yes – 32%

No – 43%

Don’t know – 24%

Q2. To the best of your knowledge, is the following statement true or false? ‘In UK general elections, the share of seats that a party wins in the House of Commons matches the share of the vote that they received.’

True – 16%

False – 59%

Don’t know – 24%

To be honest I was surprised by how high the False % was for this. Worth noting that True was much higher amongst 18-24-year-olds (33% True, 41% False) and non-white people (36% True, 33% false) although the sample sizes were quite small.

Q3. Thinking about the UK Parliament, do you agree or disagree with the following statement? ‘I think the share of seats a party wins should closely match the share of votes it receives.’

NET: Agree – 66%

NET: Disagree – 7%

Don’t know – 11%

Q4. Proportional Representation is the collective name given to electoral systems which ensure that the proportion of seats a party receives in Parliament closely reflects the proportion of votes they received from voters. Do you support or oppose such an electoral system?

NET: Support – 56%

NET: Oppose – 10%

Don’t know – 12%

No surprises here… 63% of Labour voters and 54% of Conservative voters support PR.

Q5. Currently, the UK uses a system known as ‘First Past the Post’, which does not ensure that a party’s share of the seats matches their share of the votes. In principle, would you support or oppose the UK changing the electoral system from First Past the Post to a system of Proportional Representation?

NET: Support – 51%

NET: Oppose – 13%

Don’t know – 14%

A slight drop in support when you asking about actually changing the system but still very comfortable support from the public. Would be good to try and ascertain how strong support is by adding extra info eg. “If it meant your preferred party would receive fewer MPs, would you support or oppose the UK changing the electoral system from First Past the Post to a system of Proportional Representation?”

Q6. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? ‘In UK general elections in which I have voted, my vote has made a difference to the final result.’

NET: Agree – 30%

NET: Disagree – 34%

Don’t know – 8%

Q7. Under the current voting system, your local MP is your only elected representative in the House of Commons. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? ‘If I approached them about an issue of particular importance to me, I think my MP would listen to me and represent my views in Parliament.’

NET: Agree – 37%

NET: Disagree – 29%

Don’t know – 10%

I wonder how many of these people have actually tried contacting their MP…

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ICM Unlimited interviewed a representative online sample of 2,021 adults aged 18+, between 8th – 11th June 2018. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.