Kantar research (5th – 9th March 2020) finds that:
- 44% of Britons would prefer a UK-EU trade deal to come into force after the transition period, compared to 22% who prefer that the UK exits under WTO terms with no EU trade deal. 34% ‘don’t know’.
- 47% of Britons think that the UK government is handling the Coronavirus outbreak very or fairly well, compared to 33% who think it is being handled very or fairly poorly. One in five (20%) are ‘not sure’;
- Half of the public think that most people will follow the government guidance on Coronavirus (49%). 28% think that most people won’t follow the guidance; 8% think almost everyone will follow guidance; and 4% think almost nobody will follow the guidance
- Majority of Britons don’t think that the UK leaving the EU will make it easier or more difficult for the UK government to handle outbreaks like Coronavirus in the future (54%). 17% think it will be more difficult or much more difficult; 16% think it will be easier or much easier.
Public view on negotiations with the European Union
- Three in ten Britons (32%) think that the UK government is handling the negotiations regarding the UK and EU’s future ‘well’; 42% of people think they are being handled ‘poorly’.
- There is no clarity amongst the public about how the UK will exit the transition period. 28% think it is most likely the UK will leave with a trade deal with the EU; 29% think the UK will exit the transition period under WTO terms with no EU trade deal; 42% ‘don’t know’.
- If a new referendum was held on the UK’s membership of the European Union, 37% of Britons say they would vote to Remain, 34% say they would vote to Leave. 21% say they wouldn’t vote and 8% ‘don’t know’.
- When asked if the UK should consider re-joining the EU if the general economic situation turned out to be a lot worse after Brexit, 35% of Britons think it should not, 27% think it should and 21% said maybe. 17% answered ‘don’t know’.
General Election voting intentions
- Conservative 50%
- Labour 29%
- Liberal Democrats 11%
- SNP 4%
- Green 2%
- The Brexit Party 1%
- UKIP 1%
- Plaid Cymru 1%
- Other <1%
Public view on Labour leadership race
- 1 in 4 of Britons who voted for Labour at the last General Election think Sir Keir Starmer would make the best leader of the Labour party
- 15% of the same group think Lisa Nandy would make the best leader; 8% said the same of Rebecca Long-Bailey
- 52% of people who voted Labour at the last General Election say they don’t know who would make the best leader of the Labour Party
- Amongst Britons who did not vote for Labour at the last General Election, when asked if any of the candidates for the Labour party leadership would make them more likely to vote Labour, 10% said Sir Keir Starmer, 4% Lisa Nandy, 4% Rebecca Long-Bailey, 62% said ‘none of these’ and 21% did not know.
Public opinion on personal and national economy
- 45% of Britons think that leaving the EU will make the price of things they buy a bit or much worse.
- Half of Britons (52%) working full or part time feel that their job is security is much the same as it was 12 months ago. One in four (26%) feel it is less safe and 12% feel it is safer than 12 months ago.
- Over half of Britons (56%) think that the British economy is doing much the same as it was 12 months ago. One in three (31%) think it is doing worse, and 13% think it is doing better than this time last year.
- When asked to think ahead to 12 months’ time, half of Britons think the economy will be doing much the same (51%), one in three think it will be worse than now (32%) and 17% think better than now.
Editor’s notes
Methodological information:
The survey data and further details on the methodological approach can be found here.
A total of 1,171 interviews were conducted online among adults living in Great Britain between 5th and 9th March 2020. Interviews were conducted using the Kantar Research Express Online Omnibus, which uses the Kantar online access panel as its sample source.
The data was weighted to match population totals for age, gender, working status, 2019 General Election voting patterns, 2016 EU referendum voting patterns, education, region, and likelihood to vote in the next General Election. Any use of this research must cite Kantar as the source.