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Social and Political Change in Britain (1945-1991): Restoring Hundreds of Historical Public Opinion Surveys

The University of Southampton and the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University partnered on the Social and Political Change in Britain (1945-1991) project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. This project restored hundreds of British public opinion polls conducted between 1945 and 1991 that were previously unavailable in modern data formats. Researchers can not only access the converted datasets, they can explore trends over time by demographic group using the tool below. Select a topic area and choose a specific question within that area. The total population trend chart will be generated. Demographics for analysis can then be selected.
  • Select any filter and click on Load to see results

    To access the full raw data, United Kingdom researchers please see "Accessing the Project Data in iPoll" below.

    Principal Investigators

    Will Jennings

    Professor Will Jennings is Deputy Head of School, Research and Enterprise, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Southampton. His research is concerned with questions relating to public policy and political behaviour – such as how issues get onto the policy agenda, how people form their vote preferences over time (and how polls do or don’t line up with the eventual outcome as election day approaches), how voters judge the competence of parties, and why major projects and sports events go over budget so often.

    Peter Enns

    Peter K. Enns is a Professor in the Cornell University Department of Government and Brooks School of Public Policy, and the Robert S. Harrison Director of the Cornell Center for Social Sciences.

     

    Accessing the Project Data in iPoll

    Researchers with a valid UK academic email address may access the survey data themselves within Roper iPoll. Choose the login button in the upper right corner of iPoll. Choose "British Opinion Project (ESRC)" from the dropdown and then select the small red "Register." Insert your valid UK academic email in the next dialogue box in order to be sent an email to choose a password and complete registration. Data accessed under that account will be filtered to the datasets rendered available through this joint project. If you need assistance, don't hesitate to contact the Roper Data Services team in the U.S. via email at data-services@ropercenter.org or via telephone at 00-1-607-255-8129.

    Project Goals

    Overall, this ESRC-funded project will create a new longitudinal resource of individual-level data on social, economic and political attitudes between the 1950s and 1990s. One major output will be a merged dataset consisting of hundreds of thousands of respondents to survey items included in the regular Gallup political omnibus survey fielded at regular monthly intervals over this period. The series includes voting intention, government approval, prime ministerial and party leader approval, the ‘most important problem’ facing the nation and other recurring survey items. It will be possible through this merged data to understand how attitudes of different parts of the British electorate – for example relating to social class, partisanship, age or gender – have varied over time as well as in response to major events or policy shifts. The availability of geodata on respondents (regarding the region or parliamentary constituency) will enable the exploration of the geography of public opinion over time. 

    In addition to these broad objectives, the project investigators and Research Fellows are undertaking research relating to a number of substantive aspects of British public opinion over the period since 1945 (combining the Gallup data with other more recent sources of poll data such as British Election Study and British Social Attitudes survey data). These work streams are as follows:  

    1.       Environmental attitudes (lead: John Kenny)
    This work stream of the project will track public attitudes towards the environment over time, identifying early surveys conducted relating to pollution and environmental problems and using these to understand how the structure of public opinion has changed – such as by social group or by partisan attachment. Through understanding the early formation of public opinion on the environment, light will be shed on contemporary environmental attitudes. 

    2.      Welfare state and public spending attitudes (lead: Andra Roescu)
    This work stream will investigate public attitudes towards the welfare state and public spending over the post-war period. It will consider differences in opinion towards unemployment, benefits, health and other social domains. As well as investigating the individual-level determinants of attitudes on social issues (similarly by social group or partisan preferences), this stream will consider how these attitudes change over time and how public policy responds to them. 

    3.      Public issue priorities (lead: Nick Or)
    This work stream will use Gallup’s well-known question regarding the “most important problem” (MIP) facing the country to investigate the issue priorities of the public. It will consider the individual-level determinants of the issues identified as important, and how these are stable or change over time. It further will explore how the issue agenda of distinct sub-publics (i.e. social or political groups) varies over time, and how this impacts on the policy agenda of government. 

    4.      Criminal justice (leads: Will Jennings and Peter Enns)
    This work stream will explore the social and political determinants of attitudes towards crime and criminal justice, and how these have changed over time. Specifically, it will consider which individuals hold more punitive or liberal opinions on criminal justice and whether the social structure of public opinion – on the liberal-authoritarian dimension – has remained stable over the post-war period. The stream will consider which social or partisan groups tend to be more responsive to changes in rates of victimization/crime.

    Suggestion Period Closed

    We are no longer accepting suggestions for surveys to be converted. If you have questions about the project, please submit your requests and questions to the Data Services Team so that your request is logged and tracked.  If you need assistance, don't hesitate to contact the Roper Data Services team in the U.S. via email at data-services@ropercenter.org or via telephone at 00-1-607-255-8129.

    Links to Data By Decade

    1950-1959
    1960-1969
    1970-1979
    1980-1989
    1990-1991

    Additional Investigators

    Dr. John Kenny

    Dr. John Kenny is a political scientist specializing in the areas of public opinion and environmental politics. He joins us from the University of Oxford, where he recently completed his DPhil, having previously completed a BSc in Government at University College Cork.

    Dr. Andra Roescu

    Dr. Andra Roescu is a political scientist interested in public opinion and attitudes, voting behavior, policy responsiveness and policy feedback effects, and quantitative research methods. She joins us from the European University Institute, having previously worked as a Research Fellow at the University of Southampton as part of HEALTHDOX, a Norface-funded project focusing on the future of Health Care Systems across Europe. She holds a Ph.D. from the National School of Political Science and Public Administration, Romania.

    Dr. Nick Or

    Dr. Nick Or is a political scientist specializing in agenda-setting and public policy in hybrid and liberalizing regimes. He joins us from the University of Exeter where he is a Postdoctoral Research Associate on the ERC-funded project ‘Regulating Civil Society: NGO and Party Law and their Consequences’. He completed his Ph.D. in politics and international relations at the University of Southampton.

    Mr. Stuart Smedley

    Mr. Stuart Smedley is a political scientist/historian specializing in British government and politics. He joins us from King’s College London, where he is completing a Ph.D. in Politics and Contemporary History that focuses on British public opinion towards European integration.

    Project Advisors

    • Professor Jane Green, University of Oxford and Principal Investigator on the British Election Study
    • Professor Roger Mortimore, King’s College London and Ipsos-MORI
    • Professor Sara Hobolt, London School of Economics and Political Science
    • Professor Patrick Sturgis, London School of Economics and Political Science
    • Professor Rosie Campbell, Kings College London
    • Professor James Tilley, University of Oxford
    • Professor David Sanders, University of Essex
    • Professor Christopher Wlezien, University of Texas at Austin
    • Professor Robert Shapiro, Columbia University
    • Dr Mark Roodhouse, University of York
    • William C. Block, Director of the Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research
    • Louise Corti, Associate Director, UK Data Service/UK Data Archive
    • Johnny Heald, ORB International
    • Murray Goot, Professor of Politics, Macquarie University