Highest support for PR since British Social Attitudes survey started

Electoral reform is a classic topic where the answers you get from polls is very dependent on the exact questions you ask. As it’s a topic with conflicting tensions and which the public doesn’t usually spend much time thinking about, the exact wording of a question can tip things one way or the other. Which is why it’s also a classic example of when it’s important to look at the trends rather than the current figure on one particular question wording.

Which makes this rather interesting:

The majority of British people want to see the first-past-the-post electoral system scrapped for the first time since records began.

Some 51 per cent of people are in favour of switching to a form of proportional representation (PR), while 44 per cent want the status quo, the annual British Social Attitudes survey has revealed.

The figures are a near-reversal of public opinion just five years ago, when 49 per cent wanted to keep the way governments in Westminster are elected, and 43 per cent wanted electoral reform…

It is the first time more people have backed PR than first-past-the-post since the British Social Attitudes survey launched in 1983. [The i]

Other pollsters with other wordings have also found PR to be the most popular option.

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