To find out the state of the centre ground today we worked with Millbank Think Tank on a poll to understand which words people associate with their political views. The statement was, “Thinking about the various political views people have, here is a list of common words and phrases. Please tick the one that you feel best describes your political views” . This poll included 2000 participants and was carried out by Opinium between the 14th and the 16th of December 2022. The poll was also weighted to be politically and nationally representative.
To judge the size of the right we have grouped together those who describe themselves as right wing on 6% of respondents, Libertarian on 2% and Conservatives on 19%. As a result, those on the broad right are the largest group in this poll with 27% of respondents. Something to note, however, is that Liberal Conservatives and moderate Conservatives are likely to be included in those who consider themselves Conservative. Some of these individuals may be more likely to consider themselves as centrists rather than as right wing. The poll looks at how many respondents lived in a certain part of the UK and what age range they fitted into. Unsurprisingly, right-wing support is low in London, Scotland, and Wales whilst the rest of the country is more heavily right wing. The polling also shows that the older a respondent was, the more likely they were to identify as a Conservative.
On the left we have grouped together Socialists which make up 6% of respondents and those who identify as left wing on 8%. This means only 14% of respondents consider themselves on the left, which only rises to 19% if Social Democrats are included.
At the moment, the centre ground makes up around 13% of respondents. We have defined the centre ground as both Social Democrats, which represents 5% of respondents, and Liberals, which represents 8% of respondents. Support for centrism, and more specifically liberalism, is highest in Wales. London also has a high proportion of both Liberals and Social Democrats. Younger people are more likely to be Liberals than older people. However, the reverse is the case for Social Democrats, as the older you are, the more likely you are to identify as one.
In this poll, environmentalists are those who identify as environmentalists above all other groups. These voters are especially important with the increasing discussion around climate change and the environment. In total, 8% of respondents identified as environmentalists. Unsurprisingly, younger respondents are more likely to consider themselves environmentalists than older people. Those who live in Wales and Scotland are also more likely to consider themselves as environmentalists.
These results are those who answered other, do not know, and none of these in response to the question. 16% of people answered with “none of these” , 21% with “Don’t know” and 2% with “Other” . Younger people are more likely to answer don’t know whilst Wales is the area of the UK with the most people answering “none of these” or “don’t know” .