More than half of Britons feel negative about the state of democracy in the UK, a new WeThink poll has revealed.

As part of a deep-dive into the electoral process, pollsters found 56% of people feel negative, with only 27% feeling positive and 17% don’t know. 

Despite this sinking feeling, voters still backed first-past-the-post as the preferred electoral system, with 55% in favour of keeping it, and 45% said they’d prefer proportional representation.

ON VOTING 

Two fifths of people (39%) said voting in general elections should be made compulsory, with 37% saying it should remain a choice and 23% said they didn’t know. 

Encouragingly, WeThink also found nearly a third of people (31%) feel their vote matters and makes a difference with 34% saying their vote matters but does not make a difference.  

Only 18% said their vote makes a difference but felt it didn't matter and 17% felt their vote neither mattered nor made a difference. 

Another encouraging signal is that 60% of people said they vote based on what benefits the nation versus 28% of people who vote for personal benefit alone. Only 12% said they didn’t know. 

ON ELECTION PROMISES  

WeThink also found that people are more likely to vote based on a party’s track record (40%) rather than manifesto promises (38%) while 22% didn’t know what they would base their vote on. 

On manifestos, WeThink asked if manifesto promises should be legally binding:  

• Yes: 81%
• No: 19%  

People were also asked if they would like to see their current MP re-elected in the next general election: 

• No: 36%
• Yes: 32%
• Not bothered: 20%
• Don’t know: 13% 

ON CANDIDATES  

Finally, we asked if people research candidates running in their constituency to ensure they can make an informed decision when it comes to election day 

• I do for some candidates: 46%
• I don’t do this at all: 28%
• I do for all candidates: 26% 

And where do people go to find information about candidates in their constituency? 

• Personal research: 49%
• News media: 36%
• Published manifestos: 33%
• Social media: 32%
• TV debates: 25%
• Friends / Family: 22%
• Political broadcasts: 22%
• Rallies / door knocking: 16%
• Celebrity support: 4%
• Other 3% 

ON VOTER INTENTION

In our regular weekly voter intention trackers, Labour retained its 22-point lead over the Conservatives while the Prime Minister’s net approval continued to struggle, although he pulled a point back this week, to sit on –26.

PRIME MINISTER APPROVAL

SIR KEIR STARMER APPROVAL

BEST PRIME MINISTER

BREXIT TRACKER (All respondents)

BREXIT TRACKER (excluding don't know / won't vote)

This week’s poll was conducted on 11th - 12th January 2024, questioned 1,161 people and is weighted to a national representative population.

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