Audit of Political Engagement 10, 2012

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Audit of Political Engagement is a time-series study providing an annual benchmark to measure political engagement in Great Britain, gauging public opinion about politics and the political system, and more broadly the general health of our democracy. Each Audit report presents the findings from a public opinion survey, providing detailed commentary on a range of measures that have been chosen as key measures of political engagement. Repeating questions in successive years enables us to chronicle the public’s responses year on year and track the direction and magnitude of change since the Audit was first published in 2004, building trend data on public attitudes to key aspects of our democracy. The Audit looks at core inter-locking areas that are known as vital facets, or 'building blocks', of political engagement. Given the multi-dimensional nature of political engagement, the indicators chosen are not exhaustive, but in capturing aspects of public behaviour, knowledge, opinions, attitudes and values towards politics they help us understand the drivers of political engagement and the relationships between them. Across the Audit series several 'core' indicator questions have been asked each year, supplemented by a range of thematic and topical questions, some of which are re-visited on two- or three-year cycles. Further information about the survey series is available from the Hansard Society Audit of Political Engagement webpages. The Audit of Political Engagement 10, 2012 explored how the public think about politics, how complex they perceive it to be, and what impact this has both on how they view education about politics and their priorities for political reform. It also examined what types of political action citizens might be prepared to undertake if they felt strongly about an issue. The previous year's report, Audit 9, found a 'disgruntled, disillusioned and disengaged' public, turning away from politics. Across almost every area of engagement examined by the Audit the trends were downward, in many instances to the lowest levels ever recorded in the Audit series. Would this downward trend be reinforced in Audit 10, or prove to be a one-off blip? The answer is that across many indicators – interest, knowledge, efficacy and satisfaction – the results remain largely unchanged. Indeed, many of the results of Audit 10 suggest a growth in the public's sense of indifference to politics. Main Topics:The core indicators of political engagement covered in every survey aim to discover the percentage of people who:feel they know about politicsare interested in politics;are absolutely certain to vote at an immediate general electionhave undertaken a range of political activitiesbelieve that getting involved in politics is effectivethink that the present system of governing works wellQuestions asked regularly but not every year aim to discover the percentage of people who:are satisfied with MPs in general, with their own MP, with the UK Parliamentagree that the UK Parliament holds government to account, encourages public involvement in politics, is essential to our democracy, debates and makes decision on issues that matter to mefeel involved in local/national decision-makingwant to be involved in local/national decision-makingTopics covered in 2012 included: additional attitudinal questions about politics, preferences for political reform, perceptions of Parliament, activities undertaken in relation to Parliament, desire to have learned more about politics in the past, desire for local and national involvement in decision-making and electoral registration