Charities, voters & trust: A closer look at our polling data

Polling with Ipsos MORI (October 2014): Paper 2/4

Until now, it hasn’t been clear how the public’s level of trust in charities are related to voting intentions and other demographic issues. As we head towards the 2015 General Election, it is useful to explore these issues and to understand how the changing fortunes of the UK’s political parties—and the accompanying shift in public mood—might impact on charities. In our paper we delve into the data from an online survey carried out in mid-October 2014 by Ipsos MORI for NPC.  This is the second in a series of four papers.

Key findings

• supporters of the three mainstream political parties share a similar outlook on charities, whereas UKIP supporters have more in common with the undecided voters/would not vote group
• the level of mistrust in charities among those who intend to vote for UKIP is almost 20 percentage points higher than other groups
• international charities command virtually no support from UKIP voters at all, compared to 1 in 5 other voters
• men, older people, those without degrees and people in social groups C2DE have slightly less trust in charities, across all political affiliations

UKIP supporters seem to represent a growing strand of public opinion, and one that the charity sector cannot ignore.Our findings have implications for both charities and politicians alike. And we hope they will inform charities in their work to retain the trust of those who feel positively about them while winning round some of the sceptics.

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