AV Referendum – Voting Intention
5th May 2011
On the 5th of May 2011 the UK took to the polling booths almost one year after the General Election delivered the first hung parliament since 1974. When Nick Clegg?s Liberal Democrats entered into an alliance with David Cameron?s Conservative Party, part of their partnership deal was that a referendum would be called to vote on the future of the voting system.
| I will vote in favour of switching to the Alternative Vote system | 36% |
| I will vote in favour of keeping the First Past the Post system | 64% |
Opinium Research carried out an online survey of 1,964 UK adults aged 18+ from 28th April to 2nd May 2011. Results have been weighted to nationally representative criteria.
Interview Method and Sample
This survey is conducted online by CAWI (computer aided web interviewing), using Opinium?s online research panel of circa 45,000 individuals. This research is run from a representative sample of GB adults (aged 18+ in England, Scotland and Wales). The sample is scientifically defined from pre-collected registration data containing gender, age (18-34, 35-54, and 55+) and region (North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humberside, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, South East, South West, Wales, and Scotland) to match the latest published ONS figures.
Opinium also takes into account differential response rates from the different demographic groups, to ensure the sample is representative.
AV Voting Intention Questions
The UK is set to have a referendum on the 5th of May 2011 on a proposed change to the electoral voting system, where voters will be asked to decide on whether to keep the current voting system First Past the Post System (FPTP) or move to a new voting system called the Alternative Vote system (AV).
Under the proposed Alternative Vote system, in general elections voters would be asked to rank candidates in order of preference as opposed to the current First Past the Post System where voters only select one candidate.
Will you vote in favour of the move to the Alternative Voting system?
I will vote in favour of switching to the Alternative Vote system
I will vote in favour of keeping the First Past the Post system
Unsure ? need to find out more
I will not vote
How likely are to vote in the upcoming referendum on voting reform?
Will definitely vote
Will probably vote
Will probably not vote
Will definitely not vote
Does not apply (e.g. not eligible to vote in the referendum)
