News

The Economist

29 January 2025

Although middle-aged men might care a bit less about the problem, they are often much keener on the solution. When it comes to adopting green measures, whether it be installing a heat pump, driving an electric vehicle or running the tumble dryer at 4am, it is middle-aged men who lead the way. The supposed villains of the climate transition are the heroes. The hour of the Net-Zero Dad has come.

Heat pumps are only the most prominent example; middle-aged men with kids are among the keenest on installing a heat pump, according to More In Common.

The Times

28 January 2025

Starmer is sinking faster than soggy Sunak

The prime minister’s personal approval ratings are even lower than his predecessor’s as Tories shambled towards defeat.

As well as asking its question on approval, More in Common asked for a single word to describe the prime minister. It then produced a wordcloud featuring most prominently those words used most often. The cloud is dominated by the word “useless”, although “bad” and “liar” don’t do badly. There are hardly any positive descriptions. There is a medium sized “good”, which is a little smaller than “incompetent” and a little bigger than “idiot”. There is also a tiny “hopeful”, which is roughly the same size as “clueless”.

The Telegraph

27 January 2025

Ban under-16s from social media, says majority of public

Poll shows 75 per cent want minimum age for accessing social media sites to be raised from 13.

Luke Tryl, the UK director of More in Common, said: “Support for raising the age at which young people can use social media to 16 is pretty much as close to a slam dunk as you can get in public opinion popularity terms.

“This is a Government that desperately needs public opinion and policy wins – and raising the age of access to social media would be one of them.”

the i

16 January 2025

There's a good reason why Tories are more likely to be traitors

More in Common's polling reveals that viewers of the BBC show "Traitors" are divided along political lines. Viewers who identified as "faithful," perhaps those who would prefer to play the game honestly and collaboratively, were significantly more likely to align with the Labour Party. If these “faithful” viewers alone could vote in an election, that would be a historic landslide for Labour - with the largest lead in national polling the party has ever seen.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives hold a significant lead among viewers who would prefer to play as 'traitors'.

Associate Director Ed Hodgson discusses what these findings can tell us about Britons' political values and social psychology.

The Mirror

11 January 2025

Brits overwhelmingly reject Elon Musk as half say he's 'threat to democracy'

A new poll found both the erratic tech billionaire, and Tommy Robinson whom he championed on Twitter, are deeply unpopular with the public.

“What is beyond doubt is that Elon Musk’s comments have cut through to the public and many people share the same anger about the handling of grooming gangs,” Luke Tryl, the Director of More in Common said.

“However, that is as far as their agreement with Musk goes. Musk is a deeply unpopular figure in the UK, with a net favourability rating of -35, lower than Nigel Farage or Tommy Robinson."

Labour List

8 January 2025

What is behind Labour’s polling woes and what can the party do to turn the tide?

Luke Tryl of More in Common said, "The three tests for Labour in 2029 are: can people get an operation when they need it, can they do the weekly shop without having to put stuff back at the end of it, and does migration look like it’s under control?"

“Delivery alone isn’t enough, of course. I’m, for instance, a big fan of the shift from targeting growth to targeting living standards – because you can grow off the City of London, but you could have huge parts of the country which feel left behind and neglected"