General Election: National poll from TNS reveals most popular policies

Today sees the release of new data that shows policies on Education and Health from UKIP and the Liberal Democrats are the most preferred across Great Britain.

This article originally appeared on Vote for Policies.

The national poll was designed by Vote for Policies and undertaken by social research company TNS. Participants in a nationally representative group were asked to compare policy sets for Education and Health submitted by each of the main parties without knowing which party they belonged to.

The most preferred Education policies were those of the Liberal Democrats (23%) just ahead of UKIP (21%), followed by Green (15%), Labour and Conservatives (10% each). Other parties consisted of the SNP, Scottish Greens and Plaid Cymru (2%, 2% and 1% respectively).

The most preferred Health policies were UKIP’s (28%), followed by Lib Dems (16%), Green (15%), Labour (14%) and Conservatives (11%). Other parties consisted of the SNP, Scottish Greens and Plaid Cymru (2%, 1% and 1% respectively).

These results show some surprises compared with the data collected from the Vote for Policies 2015 survey since going live in late February. Although Liberal Democrat’s policies also rank highest for Education among Vote for Policies users, the main difference from the national poll results is that UKIP’s policies for Health and Education rank first and second respectively.

Labour policies, which currently dominate the Vote for Policies users’ results, do not rank as highly in the national poll, while the Conservatives are a consistent fifth among Vote for Policies users and the national poll. Green policies are also consistent in their mid ranking among the five main political parties.

Impact on voting behaviour

Just as interesting is that the poll shows significant impact on voting behaviour and intention.

– A third of the public (35%) agree they are now more likely to vote in the general election as a result of taking part and seeing their results.

– Half (50%) agree that they are surprised by the results. Almost six in ten (59%) of those who at the beginning of the survey intended to vote for the Conservatives were surprised by the outcome of the survey. For Labour it was 56% and Lib Dems (52%). The lowest was for UKIP voters (46%).

– A fifth (20%) said they are now reconsidering who they might vote for. This proportion varies, with one quarter (25%) of those planning to vote for Labour at the beginning of the survey are reconsidering who to vote for. This compares with 20% of UKIP supporters, 18% of Conservatives and 16% of Liberal Democrats.

TNS Omnibus interviewed a representative sample of 1,199 adults in Great Britain between the 21st and 23rd April 2015. Interviews were conducted as online self-completion and results have been weighted to make them representative of the general population.

To find out which political party your view most align with take the Vote for Policies survey.

Photo: Khairil Zhafri via Flickr

Further reading:

General Election: sustainability professionals call for Nature and Wellbeing Act