Referendum Experiments Wave 3
Q1 This survey is the final wave of three surveys on the referendum on the British electoral system be
held on May 5. Thank you for participating in the first two, and we hope you will do so for one more last
time. We are interested in everyone’s opinions, and how they voted (or not), not just those people
interested in politics. This questionnaire should take no more than ten minutes and you can log off and
log on again if you want to take a break. This research is being conducted by researchers at the
University of Exeter and is funded by the British Academy and the McDougall Trust. We are not
associated with either the yes or no campaigns. For further information, please contact Professor Jack
Vowles (j.vowles@exeter.ac.uk)
Q4 Q1 For purposes of monitoring the composition of our sample, please indicate if you are
 Male (1)
 Female (2)
Q5 Q2 Please indicate which age group you belong to.





18-29 (1)
30-39 (2)
40-49 (3)
50-65 (4)
66 and over (5)
Q16 Q3 Did you have local, assembly, or parliamentary elections on May 5 where you live?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
 Don't know (3)
If No Is Selected, Then Skip To Did you vote in the referendum on the...If Don't know Is Selected, Then
Skip To Did you vote in the referendum on the...
Q56 Q3a What were those elections for?




The Scottish Parliament (1)
The Welsh Assembly (2)
Local elections in England (3)
Parliamentary by-election in Leicester (4)
If The Welsh Assembly and loca... Is Selected, Then Skip To Did you vote in the Welsh Assembly el...If
Local election in England Is Selected, Then Skip To Did you vote in your local Council or...
Q58 Q3bs Did you vote in the Scottish Parliamentary election?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
If No Is Selected, Then Skip To Did you vote in the referendum on the...
Q59 Q3cs For what party did you vote in your constituency?





Scottish National Party (1)
Labour (2)
Liberal Democrat (3)
Conservative (4)
Other (5)
Q60 Q3ds For what party did you vote for your regional list?





Scottish National Party (1)
Labour (2)
Liberal Democrat (3)
Conservative (4)
Other (5)
If Scottish National Party Is Selected, Then Skip To Did you vote in the referendum on the...If Labour Is
Selected, Then Skip To Did you vote in the referendum on the...If Liberal Democrat Is Selected, Then Skip
To Did you vote in the referendum on the...If Conservative Is Selected, Then Skip To Did you vote in the
referendum on the...If Other Is Selected, Then Skip To Did you vote in the referendum on the...
Q61 Q3bw Did you vote in the Welsh Assembly election?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
If No Is Selected, Then Skip To Did you vote in the referendum on the...
Q62 Q3cw For what party did you vote in your constituency?





Plaid Cymru (1)
Labour (2)
Liberal Democrat (3)
Conservative (4)
Other (5)
Q63 Q3dw For what party did you vote for your regional list?





Plaid Cymru (1)
Labour (2)
Liberal Democrat (3)
Conservative (4)
Other (5)
If Plaid Cymru Is Selected, Then Skip To Did you vote in the referendum on the...If Labour Is Selected,
Then Skip To Did you vote in the referendum on the...If Liberal Democrat Is Selected, Then Skip To Did
you vote in the referendum on the...If Conservative Is Selected, Then Skip To Did you vote in the
referendum on the...If Other Is Selected, Then Skip To Did you vote in the referendum on the...
Q64 Q3bl Did you vote in your local Council or Unitary Authority election?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
If No Is Selected, Then Skip To Did you vote in the referendum on the...
Q65 Q3cl Did your Council or Authority have a Direct Mayoral Election?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
If No Is Selected, Then Skip To For which parties or candidates did y...
Q66 Q3dl For which party or candidate did you vote for for Mayor?










Conservative (1)
Labour (2)
Liberal Democrat (3)
Green (4)
Scottish National Party (5)
Plaid Cymru (6)
UK Independence Party (7)
British National Party (8)
Other party (9)
Independent candidate (10)
Q67 Q3el For which parties or candidates did you vote for for your Council or Unitary Authority? (If you
could vote for more than one candidate, and from different parties, you can tick more than one box)










Conservative (1)
Labour (2)
Liberal Democrat (3)
Green (4)
Scottish National Party (5)
Plaid Cymru (6)
UK Independence Party (7)
British National Party (8)
Other party (9)
Independent candidate (10)
Q68 Q4 Did you vote in the referendum on the Alternative Vote held on May 5?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
If No Is Selected, Then Skip To After the referendum, how well would ...
Q14 Q4a The question was: At present, the UK uses the first past the post system to elect MPs to the
House of Commons. Should the Alternative Vote System be used instead? For which option did you
vote?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
Answer If Q3bw Did you vote in the Welsh Assembly election? Yes Is Selected Or Q3bw Did you vote in
the Welsh Assembly election? Yes Is Selected Or Q3bl Did you vote in your local Council or Unitary
Author... Yes Is Selected
Q71 Q4b Which vote was more important to you, the referendum vote, or the election in which you
voted?
 Referendum vote (1)
 Election Vote (2)
 Equally important (3)
If Equally important Is Selected, Then Skip To End of BlockIf Election Vote Is Selected, Then Skip To If
there had been no election, would ...
Q72 Q4c If there had been no referendum, would you have voted in the election?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
If Yes Is Selected, Then Skip To After the referendum, how well would ...If No Is Selected, Then Skip To
After the referendum, how well would ...
Q73 Q4d If there had been no election, would you have voted in the referendum?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
Q75 Q5 After the referendum, how well would you say you understand the differences between the
alternative vote and the first past the post electoral systems?






Understand the differences perfectly (1)
Understand the differences very well (2)
Understand the differences reasonably well (3)
Don't understand the differences too well (4)
Don't understand the differences very well (5)
Don't understand the differences at all (6)
Q105 Q6 Would you say you care personally about which system is used to elect MPs? Do you:




Care a lot (1)
Care somewhat (2)
Don't really care (3)
Don't care at all (4)
Q76 Q6a Thinking about the result of the referendum, would you say you were:





Very happy (1)
Somewhat happy (2)
Indifferent (3)
Somewhat Unhappy (4)
Very Unhappy (5)
Q14 Q7a On the whole, are you very satisfied, fairly satisfied, not very satisfied, or not at all satisfied
with the way democracy works in Britain?





Very satisfied (1)
Fairly satisfied (2)
Not very satisfied (3)
Not at all satisfied (4)
Don't know (5)
Q15 Q8a Where 1 means that voting won’t make any difference to what happens and 5 means that
voting can make a big difference, where would you place yourself?






1 Voting won't make any difference (1)
2 (2)
3 (3)
4 (4)
5 Voting Can Make a Big Difference (5)
Don't know (6)
Q88 Q6a On the whole, are you very satisfied, fairly satisfied, not very satisfied, or not at all satisfied
with the way democracy works in Britain?





Very satisfied (1)
Fairly satisfied (2)
Not very satisfied (3)
Not at all satisfied (4)
Don't know (5)
Q89 Q6b Where 1 means that voting won’t make any difference to what happens and 5 means that
voting can make a big difference, where would you place yourself?






1 Voting won't make any difference (1)
2 (2)
3 (3)
4 (4)
5 Voting Can Make a Big Difference (5)
Don't know (6)
Q87 Q6c Thinking about the result of the referendum, would you say you were:





Very happy (1)
Somewhat happy (2)
Indifferent (3)
Somewhat Unhappy (4)
Very Unhappy (5)
Q91 Q7 Did you see the television advertisement for the 'Yes' Campaign on Tuesday evening, May 3?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
 Don't know (3)
If Don't know Is Selected, Then Skip To Q8 Did you see the television adverti...If No Is Selected, Then Skip
To Q8 Did you see the television adverti...
Q96 Q7a Did it make you more or less likely to vote 'Yes', or did it make no difference?




No difference (1)
More likely (2)
Less likely (3)
Don't know (4)
Q93 Q8 Did you see the television advertisement for the 'No' Campaign on Monday evening, May 2?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
 Don't know (3)
If No Is Selected, Then Skip To Q9 About how many pamphlets, flyers, ...If Don't know Is Selected, Then
Skip To Q9 About how many pamphlets, flyers, ...
Q95 Q8a Did it make you more or less likely to vote 'No', or did it make no difference?




No difference (1)
More likely (2)
Less likely (3)
Don't know (4)
Q97 Q9 About how many pamphlets, flyers, or leaflets have you received asking you to vote 'Yes'?




None (1)
One (2)
Two (3)
Three or more (4)
Q98 Q10 About how many pamphlets, flyers, or leaflets have you received asking you to vote 'No'?




None (1)
One (2)
Two (3)
Three or more (4)
Q106 Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
Strongly agree
(1)
Agree (2)
Disagree (3)
Strongly
disagree (4)
Don't know (5)
AV would have
cost an extra
£250 million to
operate (1)





AV would have
greatly
reduced the
number of safe
seas (2)





AV would have
required
electronic
voting
machines to
count the
votes (3)





AV would have
helped to
restore public
trust in
politicians (4)





Q101 Q11 In case you have changed your mind on any of these statements we have asked before, over
the last few days, could you indicate if you agree or disagree with these statements, and how strongly?
Strongly agree
(1)
Agree (2)
Disagree (3)
Strongly
disagree (4)
Don't know (5)
Under AV
there will be
no more
wasted votes
(1)





AV will make it
more likely
that extremists
are elected to
Parliament (2)





The
referendum is
a big waste of
money (3)





AV makes sure
every MP has
to win a
majority of the
votes (4)





AV makes it
possible for
everybody to
vote for who
they want to
(5)





Voting under
AV is as easy
as ranking
your
candidates 1,
2, 3. (6)





Q103 Q12 Again, in case you have changed your mind, the rest of the statements to agree or disagree
with.
Strongly agree
(1)
Agree (2)
Disagree (3)
Strongly
disagree (4)
Don't know (5)
Voters will not
understand AV
because it is
too confusing
(1)





The first past
the post
system gives
us strong
government
(2)





AV means that
some votes get
counted more
than others (3)





The campaign
against AV is
dominated by
the
Conservative
Party (4)





AV would only
help the
Liberal
Democrats (5)





AV is not
significantly
more
proportional
than first past
the post (6)





Q104 Q13 Now that Britain has decided not to adopt AV, do you think the country still needs some kind
of electoral reform?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
 Don't know (3)
If No Is Selected, Then Skip To End of BlockIf Don't know Is Selected, Then Skip To End of Block
Q105 Q13a What among this list of possible reforms do you think should be considered?





Making parliamentary constituencies of more equal size (1)
Adopting the Single Transferable Vote (STV) (2)
Adopting a Mixed Member Proportional system (3)
Adopting a Proportional representation system based on regional lists (4)
An elected House of Lords or elected second chamber replacing the House of Lords (5)
Q17 Q14 If a general election for the Parliament at Westminster were held today, for which party’s
candidate would you vote?










Would not vote (1)
Conservative (2)
Labour (3)
Liberal Democrat (4)
UK Independence Party (5)
Green (6)
Scottish National Party (7)
Plaid Cymru (8)
Other (9)
Don't know (10)
Q88 Q15 Would you say that over the past twelve months, the state of the economy in the UK has got 





Much better (1)
Somewhat better (2)
Stayed the same (3)
Somewhat worse (4)
Much worse (5)
Don't know (6)
Q74 Q16 Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
Strongly agree
(1)
Agree (2)
Disagree (3)
Strongly
Disagree (4)
Don't Know (5)
Referendums
are too
complicated
for the
average voter
(1)





Parliament,
not voters,
should make
final decisions
on law and
policy (2)





There should
be a law
allowing
citizens to
initiate a
referendum by
a petition
signed by at
least 10
percent of the
electorate (3)





Q81 Q17 Please indicate whether you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly
disagree with the following statement:"Over the next ten years or so, my family and I have a good
chance of improving our standard of living."





Strongly agree (1)
Somewhat agree (2)
Somewhat disagree (3)
Strongly disagree (4)
Don't know (5)
Q82 The next two questions are about your or your household's main source of income or job. Q18 First,
how likely or unlikely is it that this income or job might be lost IN THE NEXT YEAR?





Very Likely (1)
Somewhat likely (2)
Somewhat unlikely (3)
Very Unlikely (4)
Don't know (5)
Q83 Q19 If this income or job were lost, how easy or difficult would it be to find another job or source of
income?





Very easy (1)
Somewhat easy (2)
Somewhat difficult (3)
Very difficult (4)
Don't know (5)
Q84 Q20 Do you or does a member of your household own a residence - for example, a home or a flat?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
Q85 Q21 Do you or does a member of your household own a business, a piece of property, a farm, or
livestock?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
Q86 Q22 Do you or a member of your household own shares, stocks or bonds?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
Q87 Q23 Do you or does a member of your household have a cheque or savings account?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
Q99 Q24 Do you agree or disagree with the statement: 'it is every citizen's duty to vote' when applied to
the opportunities to vote in the list below'?
Strongly
agree (1)
Agree (2)
Neither
agree not
disagree (3)
Disagree (4)
Strongly
Disagree (5)
Don't know
(6)
In a UK
parliamentary
election (1)






In a devolved
parliament or
Assembly
election
(Scotland,
Wales) (5)






In a local
election (2)






In a European
election (3)






In a
referendum
on the
electoral
system (4)






Q80 This is the end of the survey. Thanks very much for participating. If you are interested in some of
the results, you can go to: http://www.jackvowlesdomain.co.uk/UKReferendumSurveyExperiments.htm