BMG Research has undertaken exclusive polling for The i newspaper. The polling covers topics including vote intention, leader satisfaction, preference for an election in the next 6 months, the Ukraine – Russia war and the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.
Analysis by Oliver White – Pollster at BMG
It would be hard to find a Private Members Bills in recent years which has attracted as much attention as the Assisted Dying Bill. Three quarters of the British Public have heard at least something about the bill, including a third of British adults who have heard a lot about the bill.
Yet, though declarations of how MPs intend to use their free vote on the bill suggest a divided Parliament, this division does not appear to be the case among the General Public. Over half of the British public support the provisions of the bill, compared to just 17% who oppose. In addition, there does not seem to be a conventional party-political divide that could be leveraged for opposition to the bill. Support for the bill floats at around three fifths among all major parties.
So while the context of British Public opinion is clear, it will not a good indicator of the results of Friday’s vote. The specifics of the bill, MPs personal views, even parliamentary time allocated to debate, have all been noted as reasons for MPs who have declared how they will be voting. They will be just as important as public opinion when the Parliamentary votes are tallied.
An article by The i on public support for the Terminally Ill Adults Bill can be found here.
Methodology, fieldwork dates, and a full breakdown of these results can be found here.
As a sample of the population was interviewed, the results are subject to a margin of error around various estimates. This means that, given the random nature of the sampling process, we can be confident that the actual result lies somewhere within the margin of error. For example, with a sample of 1,000 we can be 95% certain that the actual value will fall 3% either side of the result. For a more detailed breakdown of results from this poll, or any other results from our polling series, please get in touch by email or phone.
| Do you support or oppose the Assisted Dying Bill? |
|---|
| Strongly support – 24% |
| Somewhat support – 30% |
| Neither support nor oppose – 22% |
| Somewhat oppose – 8% |
| Strongly oppose – 8% |
| Don’t know – 7% |
| Prefer not to say – 1% |