Is this MORI polling bad news for UKIP?
Why do only 2 in 100 voters think that the EU is an issue?
The chart above is from latest MORI Issues Index and shows how concern about the Common Market/EU/Europe/EURO continues to be at very low levels – something that now concerns only 2% of those polled.
The index has been compiled in the same way for 30 years and involves asking, completely unprompted, what interviewees think are the “most important issues facing Britain today“. There is no limit on the number of answers.
When people are asked about how they view the EU they mostly respond negatively and indeed we have seen how well UKIP has performed in elections at all levels in recent months. But when voters are asked to state what’s most important the EU hardly figures.
My reading is that this is quite good news for the mainstream parties who might fear the rise of UKIP which seems to be taking as many votes away from Labour as it does from the Tories.
For as we get closer to the election then, surely, what voters say are the bigger issues are likely to become more important. A party that is just concerned with the 2% does not look like prospering when the government of the country is at stake.