Are people politically engaged?

The Hansard Society (a political and research charity) have published their findings on public attitudes to politics which uses a range of political engagement indicators. This is the fifth annual audit and one thing that seems to have remained constant in the findings, through the years, is how few people are politically active. In fact only around one in eight people are politically active and the majority of activities are small such as signing a petition.

Commenting on the findings Sue said, "Perhaps one of the most worrying trends highlighted by these audits is the consistent and steady decrease in political engagement over the last five years. People seem to be much more interested, engaged and active in local matters, where they feel their voice can be heard."

Overall interest in politics has fallen by 3% since last year's audit, now down to 51%. The number of people saying they are very interested in politics has not changed and stayed at 13%. However, this is actually lower than the proportion who says they are not at all interested, which currently stands at 19%.

In terms of propensity to vote, about half of those asked state they would definitely vote if there was an immediate general election whilst 10% claim they would definitely not vote.

Sue said, "The audit's findings about public involvement and interest in politics are really interesting, if not particularly positive about the current situation. In general, it seems that people are less likely to vote, more likely to express disillusionment with politics and politicians, and often feel powerless to change things. This alienation is particularly noticeable in the young, who are much less likely to vote than older people."

For the first time, a new part has been included in the audit which looks at constitutional issues. This is mainly due to the fact that the government is looking to increase public involvement in the democratic process. Interestingly however, the audit shows that more people seem to know about the EU than the constitutional arrangements in Britain. In fact about a half of the public have never heard of or know hardly anything at all about the constitutional arrangements which govern our country.