Dynamics of Attitudes Towards Democracy and Participation in Contemporary Britain, 2000-2002

<P>Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.</P><br>The project involved collecting and analysing a series of survey datasets concerned with the preparedness of British citizens to engage in different forms of political participation, and their attitudes towards democracy. The surveys also collected data in relation to variables that potentially explain people's propensities to engage in political participation. A pilot survey, which tested out the draft questionnaire, was conducted in April 2000. The main data collection involved administering the same questionnaire each month to a representative sample of the UK electorate, over the period July 2000 to December 2002.<br>
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A sample of around 1000 respondents were interviewed by The Gallup Organization Ltd. for most months between July 2000 and December 2002. Interviews were conducted by telephone using Random Digit Dialling. The results were weighted by Gallup to conform to the demographic profile of the UK population. Financial constraints meant that in some months no survey was conducted. In other months, only around 500 respondents were interviewed. The numbers of respondents per month are clearly defined inside the dataset.<br><B>Main Topics</B>:<BR><br>Topics covered included age, gender, voting intention, party allegiance, previous voting behaviour, attitudes to political parties and individual party leaders, approval/disapproval of the government's record to date, trust in government, household financial situation, opinion on how individual political parties would handle the economy, attitudes to country's economic situation, attitudes to European Union and the Single European Currency, political interest and knowledge, public political influence, political and community participation, national and cultural identity, attitudes to risk-taking, democracy, newspaper readership, housing tenure, educational background, household composition, car ownership, economic activity, income, employment history, marital status, trade union membership. <br>
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Standard Measures:<br>
Social Class coded by Gallup to Market Research Society (MRS) categories A, B, C1, C2, D, E.