Immigration now just one point behind the economy as most important issue facing UK

[-:Undertaker:-]

From The Sun's Political Editor tonight -

Tom Newton Dunn ‏@tnewtondunn 3m

YouGov/Sun poll tonight: Immigration now just 1 point behind the economy as the most important issue facing the country - 60% v 61%...

Tom Newton Dunn ‏@tnewtondunn 3m

...only a matter of time before immigration comes top as the economy improves. MPs from all parties take note.

Backs up other poll results over the past few months too, the trend is that concern over the economy is decreasing and concern over uncontrolled immigration is increasing. From UKPollingReport (Ipsos MORI) a few weeks ago -

The big political problem here of course is how the the main parties, especially the Conservatives, respond? The old retort they used to use over immigration concerns that anybody who said we shouldn't have uncontrolled borders is a waycist doesn't work anymore. And they can't actually cut immigration realistically without first abandoning the EU's principle of free movement - and if they do that then we head for the exit door.

It's all linking perfectly together if you ask me - people are now beginning to realise that both the economy and immigration are linked... now we just need to show how both of those are linked to our EU membership and campaign for an amicable divorce from the EU. Not to mention the fact that immigration is linked very closely with concerns over schools, hospitals, housing, services, unemployment etc...

Interesting development anyway considering how the economy has been the number one concern since 2008 and maybe even before.

Thoughts?

[FlyingJesus]

I wonder how many of the Sun readers that polled actually know anything about any of those topics

[-:Undertaker:-]

I wonder how many of the Sun readers that polled actually know anything about any of those topics

I am sure I have told you this before, but here it goes again - when a poll says YouGov/The Sun or Survation/The Guardian it doesn't mean that the poll was exclusively of Sun or Guardian readers. All the Pollster/Newspaper thing means is who carried out the poll and who commissioned the poll. The poll itself is free of newspaper bias and is as scientific as any other poll carried out.

So this isn't a poll of Sun readers just as an Observer/Survation poll isn't a poll of Observer readers.

[FlyingJesus]

Ok then, I wonder how many random people who sit at home all day waiting to do telephone surveys know anything about any of those topics

[-:Undertaker:-]

Ok then, I wonder how many random people who sit at home all day waiting to do telephone surveys know anything about any of those topics

YouGov rarely do telephone polls.

They are online, YouGov have a database (according to Mike Smithson) of around 300,000 - and the polls are weighted to prevent any one party or cause from dominanting the surveys as was the case in the 1992 General Election when pollsters were surprised by the large 'shy Tory vote' which won Major a majority. They're very accurate.

Telephone polls, when they are carried out, are weighted aswell for the reason that if a pollster phones on a weekday between 9 and 5, older people and mothers will be overrepresented - similarly if they polled at 6 in the evening it'd be likely that a father would pick up whereas single, younger couples may have gone out to dinner - something that would distort the results. That's why weighting is used to reflect actual turnout.

I'll give you (sometimes) that polls are biased. For example, if the Daily Mirror commissions a set of polling questions on say.... the NHS and then asked which party people were voting for: that would inflate the Labour vote because Labour is seen as the party of the NHS and the questions would lead people towards Labour. The same can be said for a Daily Mail poll with a set of questions on immigration or the EU prior to asking voting intentions: that historically led to a higher Tory share of the poll but nowadays leads to a higher UKIP share. All of this is rare though and online analysts will point it out.

[Yawn]

how would u rank those issues in importance undertaker

[-:Undertaker:-]

how would u rank those issues in importance undertaker

EU followed by immigration, followed by economy, followed by inflation, followed by crime.... and the rest.

EU is the most important political issue because it's at the heart of everything: who governs Britain?

[Yawn]

EU followed by immigration, followed by economy, followed by inflation, followed by crime.... and the rest.

EU is the most important political issue because it's at the heart of everything: who governs Britain?

wat happens if we r no longer a part of the EU and u fancy going to disneyland paris we can get there so fast

[FlyingJesus]

Polls are always poor representations for the simple fact that people only take part if they want to, and someone who thinks having an Indian family live across the road from them is an invasion of Britain is clearly going to be more likely to complain than someone who's fairly satisfied with how things are. I can't see what type of polling was done here because there's no source link or anything but the last one you posted was a telephone interview that hand-picked their participants

[Inseriousity.]

I've took part in a survey for the National Office of Statistics or w/e they're called. In fact, I believe that it was the Happiness Index that David Cameron was mocked about. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...rly-happy.html
As for how much you know about the subject, clearly that's irrelevant as the whole point of polls is to find out public opinion even if that opinion is misguided or statistics do not back it up.

I mean sure we have to be wary of them and aware of their failings. I do not think it's a coincidence that the minute The Sun starts a campaign to make immigration their 'red line' issue, there's a poll that suggests public opinion is the same. I don't think the issues are as close as this poll suggests but I'd say it was in the public's top 5.