"As Andrew Hawkins of ComRes noted in his commentary, ‘clearly a lot of people are very confused......’"
Sunday’s ComRes poll for the Independent on Sunday/Sunday Mirror contained two questions designed to tap into one of the central dividing lines of the election – what to do about public spending. Its findings are very revealing.
First, they asked this: “The Government should maintain current public spending plans in order to keep the recovery going”
Agree: 61%
Disagree 29%
Perhaps not surprisingly, younger people and those in poorer social groups were most likely to agree. Good news for Labour, you might think, given that this is their stance, and they appear to have almost two thirds of the public behind them.
But then they asked this: “The Government should cut public spending now to avoid higher taxes later”.
Agree 57%
Disagree 34%
As with the previous question, younger people and those in poorer social groups were the most likely to agree.
These are two totally contradictory stances – and yet the public want both of them. They want public spending both maintained and cut.
As Andrew Hawkins of ComRes noted in his commentary, ‘clearly a lot of people are very confused......’
Professor Philip Cowley
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Surely the answer is in the exact words used.
ReplyDeletePeople are voting for "keep the recovery going" and "avoid higher taxes later" rather than for or against spending cuts per se.
Consider the likely votes for “The Government should maintain current public spending plans in order to cause higher taxes later” and “The Government should cut public spending now to stop the recovery”
If the richest ten percent were taxed more then we could continue to have the same if not more spent on public services.
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